Changeling
by Wilona Riva
Summary: "That's why we're daring you, dipstick," Ember shot back, her apple-green eyes boring into his emerald ones. "Just go through the portal and bring back the thermos. We've got to get Johnny and Kitty out of there."
1. Getting the Thermos

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

_Part of "The White Dreamer" collection._

_Revision: Originally stated that Danny had died as a baby; Maddie would not have noted any familiarity with him if he had died so young, so I corrected his age. He's fourteen at this point._

* * *

**Getting the Thermos**

* * *

"I dare you," the blue-haired girl said, the flames of her ponytail flickering with her amusement.

"I don't think this is a good idea," the parrot perched upon his other friend's shoulder remarked.

"You're not a chicken, are you, Phantom?" Youngblood, the pint-sized pirate captain taunted, shooting the skeletal avian a dirty look.

"No," Phantom denied, feeling sick to his stomach. His ivory hair and emerald eyes made him the envy of the girls at Ghost Zone High. "I don't want to be caught. I know you dared me to do it, but this portal belongs to ghost hunters."

"That's why we're daring you, dipstick," Ember shot back, her apple-green eyes boring into his emerald ones. "Just go through the portal and bring back the thermos. We've got to get Johnny and Kitty out of there."

Phantom swallowed. "Alright," he said, resignation in his voice.

"Whoo-hoo! Go, Phantom! Go, Phantom!" Youngblood cheered him on.

"Be quiet!" Ember hissed, her ponytail crackling in anger. "The hunters will hear you."

Phantom swallowed and peeked around the corner of the portal. The lab was quiet. A computer monitor glowed in the corner, calculating some weird algorithms or formulae involving ectoplasm. He shuddered at the thought of it. Using ghost blood for experiments. How barbaric!

He stepped out of the portal and took his first breath of air from the human world. The sudden blare of an alarm's wailing sent him racing backwards into the portal.

Ember held him steady until his heart quit racing. "What happened?" she asked, searching for the answer in his face.

"They had alarms," Phantom replied. "I can't get to the thermos."

"Have you tried your 'special ability'?" the parrot asked him.

"Whose side are you on?" Youngblood grumped.

"My own," the parrot replied.

"Of course!" Phantom straightened up, his emerald eyes wide with surprise.

"Oh no!" Ember said, trying to stop him. "Once was enough; you almost got caught."

"You're the one who dared me to get it," Phantom reminded her.

"So? If everyone were asking Desiree for love spells, would you do it too?" Ember said, folding her arms.

"Depends on the girl," Phantom said, smirking at her.

"Danny!" she yelled, hitting him on the arm. "Try to be serious for once."

"You guys are gross," Youngblood said, gagging as they kissed.

"Well, let's try this again, shall we?" Phantom asked, forming the rings and allowing them to wash over him, changing ivory to ebony and emerald to sapphire. His clothes changed from their usual black and white hazmat-style suit to ordinary teenage garb of baggy blue-jeans, red-and-white sneakers and a nondescript red-and-white t-shirt.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked.

"Be careful, dude," Youngblood told him as he slipped through the portal a second time.

* * *

"Hey, who turned out the lights!" Phantom yelped, as a dark covering was thrown over him.

"Quick, Maddie, the ecto-foamer!" a man's voice bellowed. "We've finally caught one of those floating spooks!"

"Hey, I object to being called a floating spook!" Phantom objected, trying to yank the dark covering off his head. "Ouch!"

"You can't take it off, spook," the man said, glee in his voice. "It's coated with an anti-ectoplasmic oil, especially designed to shock ghosts like you."

"Shouldn't we see what he looks like, Jack?" a woman spoke up just then.

"Good idea, Maddie," Jack boomed. "Here, on the count of three...two...one..." the sudden bright light blinded Phantom.

"Great Gobs of Goo, it can't be. It just can't be," Jack mumbled, his blue eyes bulging out of their sockets.

Maddie's lower lip trembled as she lifted the ghost, no, the boy's face and traced his alien, yet familiar features. "Danny, can it really be you?"

It broke her heart as he pleaded with his eyes for her to let him go.

"He's not Danny," Jack said, a bit of steel in his voice. "Danny died when he was a child during the third ghost invasion of King Plasmius."


	2. Azure Stone

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Azure Stone**

* * *

The eyes of the Phantom were twin pools of azure stone. They took in and gave nothing. He sighed deeply. The humans were speaking in a rapid fire language he could not understand; when they spoke slowly he was able to pick up bits and pieces of what they were saying.

"Plasmius...first...offered peace. Plasmius...second...war. Third...Plasmius...stole our children," the male was saying to the female, while glancing on occasion down at him.

Phantom was scared and angry. He was trapped in his human form, bound by what appeared to be a glowing fishing line. "Let me go!" he begged, his outburst startling the two humans. "I'm sorry I came. I'll go back to the Ghost Zone. I wasn't trying to hurt anybody, just rescue some friends."

Jack knelt down and lifted the boy's frightened face to where they met eye to eye. "I am going to unbind you. There's something we need to see."

Phantom's eyes widened upon seeing the woman hand the man a pair of glowing shears. "Ember!" he yelled.

* * *

"We have to go help him, Ember," Youngblood said. He pointed at the scissors the female ghost hunter was handing over to the male. "The Fentons are going to cut him into pieces."

Ember blinked. "And that's his favorite shirt too," she murmured. "Alright, we're going in." She checked over the guitar she was carrying.

Jack cut the line binding the boy, then used the scissors to remove his shirt. He whistled on see the many scars the boy had. _I know ghosts are violent, but he's just a kid! Now to prove it to Maddie...oh good ghosts!_

He met Maddie eyes. "He really is Danny," he whispered, looking at the Florida-shaped birthmark on his right shoulder.

The boy looked at both of them and frowned. "Yes?" he asked. Both ignored him.

Maddie nodded. "A mother instinctively knows her children, Jack. I knew he was alive."

"He's one of them, Mads," Jack said, "he speaks with their tongue. We don't even know why he came back to us."

"But I told you already," Phantom said, rising to his feet, only to have Jack push him back down into the chair. "Why won't you listen to me?"

"He knew his name, Jack," Maddie said, running her fingers through his thick dark hair. "We can't comprehend what he's saying and by the looks of it, he can barely understand us. He was barely more than a toddler when he was taken."

Jack was about to say something when the alarms sprang to life once more. In the confusion and melee that followed, Danny managed to get far away from the ghost hunters and grab the thermos off the table. He jumped into the air and shifted back to his normal form. He shivered slightly; he hated being warm.

"I got it!" he yelled to his friends. "Let's go!"

"Right," the parrot said, biting Jack's nose, causing the ghost hunter to drop his ecto-cannon and howl with pain.

"Aww, just when we're were starting to have some real fun," Youngblood whined.

"Can it, shrimp," Ember said, "quick, the portal's closing."

Sure enough, the female ghost hunter had the foresight to mash the button that operated the doors. Danny paused just inside of the swirling vortex and turned to look back at the woman. _Do I know her? Why was she so upset to see me? Duh, I'm her prey._

* * *

"Okay, I can't believe we almost got caught," Ember gasped. "I'm sorry, Phantom. That was foolish of me."

"Can you just let us out already," Kitty complained from within the thermos. "It's cramped in here and Johnny's been eating Mexican again."

Youngblood snickered; the parrot hushed him.

"How do you open this thing?" Danny said, turning the cylindrical device around. He couldn't find any buttons or depressions on it.

"Like this, little badger," King Plasmius said, taking it from him. His hands glowed pink for a moment; there was a pop, a flash of light, then Kitty and Johnny fell face forward, with Kitty holding her nose. None of them had seen him standing there; they were screwed.

"Did he let out a big stinky wet one?" Youngblood asked Kitty, trying to delay the inevitable.

"And how," she said, waving the invisible odor away.

"Aww, come on, kitten," Johnny whined. "I said I was sorry already."

King Plasmius ignored the two released teens and focused his pupiless crimson eyes on the trio in front of him. "Daniel, your mother has been worried sick looking for you. Ember, I warned you to stay away from the Fentons' portal, and as for you two..." he didn't finish the sentence, but the parrot and Youngblood both turned red.

The king looked again at Danny and forced the boy's attention back to the portal. "They promised peace, but delivered war. We exchanged children to learn of each others' worlds; they murdered ours in cold blood and stole their ectoplasm to power their hunters' tools to use against us. I never want to see you near this or any other portal again, am I clear?"

"Yes, Sire," they all replied.

"Good, now go home, all of you. Daniel, you stay put."

Ember gave him a look of pity and flew off. Phantom knew where she was headed; they all were going to end up at the Refuge anyway.

He turned his attention back to the king. "I know you're angry, but, we were just trying to rescue Johnny and Kitty, not start another war with the humans."

"Phantom, you know the human world is off-limits for a reason," Plasmius sighed. "Did they do anything to you or say anything?"

"They shredded my favorite shirt while I was using my special ability, sir. I had to, they had alarms that sensed me," Danny said. "Their equipment burned."

"What did they say to you?" Plasmius asked.

"I couldn't pick up everything they were saying. They kept repeating your name and saying bad things about you, something about offering peace, starting a war and then kidnapping their offspring. That wasn't the most amazing thing, though."

"Oh, Daniel?" King Plasmius said, arching one eyebrow.

"Yes," Danny said, turning back to look at the portal. "They knew my name and saw my birthmark." Here, he touched his right shoulder and shuddered.

"You are half-human, Daniel, and all humans are marked in some way," King Plasmius explained. "Now, Phantom, go home before your mother comes storming into my throne room again; then you can sneak out and join your friends at the Refuge."

Danny Phantom bowed to his liege lord. "As you have wished it, so shall it be." That being said, he teleported away.

King Plasmius growled in anger and gnashed his teeth; his red eyes glowing like twin hot coals. "I swear, Jack Fenton, you will rue the day you crossed my path."


	3. Desiree, My Mother

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Desiree, My Mother**

* * *

As far back as Danny Phantom could remember, there were two constants in his life: the medicine he had to drink and his mother. His mother was the lesser of two evils.

Phantom didn't know what had made him the way he was. The way his mother explained it to him was this:

_"There was war between the worlds, my son; thrice we crossed into the barren lands and saved as many as we could. I was consort to the King in those days and we parted on good terms. Vladimir was negotiating peace with the hunters and I had some time to myself._

_While visiting the city of alabaster, glass and steel, I came across a home of metal and fire brick. Phasing through the flimsy walls, I found a hunter's lair, with two small children: a girl and you. _

_The girl was a devourer of knowledge and this pleased me. I decided I would recommend her to Vladimir as an offering for the exchange. I floated on past and found a room covered with light blue stars and moons and saw you and was incensed. _

_The hunters had apparently neglected to bathe you. You wore crude undergarments of oils which oozed from the earth and of a coarse cotton fiber. Your tiny frame was covered with burns and your clothing hadn't been changed for days. You hadn't eaten for two days._

_The hunters who bore you had forgotten you existed._

_I took you in my arms and magicked up a bottle of ectoplasm, not knowing it would be but the first step to tying you to our world forever. I took you home and showed Vladimir what was done to you._

_That is how you came to be my son, Daniel, my little phantom."_

* * *

"Daniel Phantom, where is your shirt?" were the first words he heard in greeting from his mother when he materialized in his home.

He hung his head. "The hunters did it," he admitted.

"The hunters?" his mother exclaimed, her ruby eyes widening in surprise. "What have I told you about going near the Fentons' portal?"

"Mother, I am sorry," he said, "but they came to our world first. Johnny and Kitty were sucked into their entrapment device-the one that looks like a soup thermos-and taken for experimentation. The parrot saw it happen and came and got us. I wasn't alone."

"So you dragged your brother and your girlfriend into this as well?" his mother queried.

"Well, Master Clockwork dropped Skulker into next week for flubbing our history exam, so he couldn't come with us," Phantom told her.

His mother reached out and clasped him to her bosom. "Phantom, promise me, you will never go near the hunters' portal again. I can't imagine what they might have done to you."

"I'm sorry, Mother," he whispered. He looked up at her with sincerity in his eyes. She hugged him tighter in response.

"Now, get upstairs and change. You don't want to keep Ember waiting, do you?" she said, her hands glowing pink for a moment.

Danny felt his heart start beating again and shivered. "Mother, you know I hate being warm!" He knew if he looked into a mirror right that moment, he'd see long midnight black hair pulled back into a messy ponytail and bright ice blue eyes.

"That's your punishment for disobeying me," she shot back. "One chrona as a human."

"Thank you, mother dear," he sarcastically responded, taking the stairs two at a time to his room. "One friggin' chrona of riding to school with Youngblood and no powers."

"You still have access to your basic ones," she called up. "And watch your language, young man."

"Yes, ma'am!"


	4. The Refuge

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom

* * *

**The Refuge**

* * *

The bouncer looked the pale human up and down and tsked. "You haven't learned anything yet, dude, if that keeps happening to you."

The human rolled his ice blue eyes at the burly ghost in front of him. "You don't know my mother, Dash, and trust me, yeah, it bites to be warm."

The school quarterback removed the rope and waved him on in. "You can keep your mother," he said. "Pyro's waiting for you and your little brother sneaked on in ahead of you again."

"How he keeps getting in, I'll never figure out," Danny said, shaking his midnight black hair. "Thanks, Dash. I'll make sure he behaves this time."

The bouncer growled good-naturedly at him. "You say that every time, Phantom."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Well, not entirely unscathed," Ember greeted him, giving him the once-over. "Human's good on you."

"Just a perspective on coloring, cool cat, but you really shouldn't make your mother angry," Sidney Pointdexter said, looking up from the book he was reading. "What'd you do this time and how long?"

Phantom surveyed the Refuge's crowd and could not see his little brother. He sighed.

"Peace, he's helping the Lunch Lady in the kitchen with Box Lunch and Danni," Ember said, noting him scanning the crowd.

"Who is all here?" Danny asked.

"Me, you, Dash, Nerd-for-brains stuck in the 50's, Youngblood...the usual crowd."

"I object," Sidney said, glaring at the pop diva.

"Go suck an egg cream," she retorted. "Go, get me and Danny each a one, while you're at it." She tossed him some gold coins. Sidney grumbled good-naturedly and slid out of the booth.

"Meet in the back," Danny called after him. His blue eyes sparkled with anger. "And pass the word on."

"Righto!"

* * *

Maddie and Jack called a small meeting that evening of several families in Amity Park. When they told Jazz, she was angry, then curiosity took over. This was highly unusual for her parents.

The Baxters were the first to arrive, then after them, the Mansons and Foleys. Young Samantha and Tucker were best friends with Jazz. Neither of them looked happy to be dragged out of their warm cozy teenage dens this time of the night.

Family after family arrived; last of all was Vlad Masters, an old family friend of the Fentons. He looked peeved to say the least, but held his tongue. He kept shooting an angry look at Jack, who couldn't figure out what he'd done to make the tall lanky man mad.

"What is this all about, Fenton?" Jeremy Thurston Manson IV demanded. His wife covered her daughter's ears; angry blue eyes fixed on the Fentons.

"We made a trip into the Ghost Zone to locate any information on the whereabouts of our children," Jack began, outlining the events of the day before, ending the tale with the discovery of a ghost child who might or might not be their missing son.

"How sure are you of this information? " Mr. Gregory Baxter asked the orange-clad ghost hunter. "They took our little Dashiel at the same time."

"They took all of our children," Maddie asserted, punching one hand into her palm. "I know my little boy like the back of my hand. Our little Danny came back to us and that is all the sign we need. Who is with me?"

Everyone cheered, except for Vladimir Masters. He rose to his feet.

"There are two sides to every story," he began. "The ghosts invaded our world bringing death and destruction wrapped in the golden fleece of peace. That is the way we see it. Now, I want you to consider the ghosts' view of the story."

* * *

Phantom met the eyes of each and everyone in the room as he recounted the events of a few hours before. "They knew my name and recognized my mark," he announced.

"Dude, that's not possible," Dash called out from the front of the room. Sidney frowned at his horrible decorum.

"I could hardly make our what they were saying," Danny admitted.

"So you suck at speaking human," Kitty reminded him. "We already knew that."

"His last progress report was undeniable proof," Ember hooted.

"Do you mind?" Danny shot her a dirty look. Ember blew him a kiss in reply.

"Lovebirds, get a room!" Johnny catcalled.

"Johnny!"

"Phantom," came his brother's voice from the kitchen. "Mother just belled. She needs you home right away; you haven't taken your medicine yet."

"But I took it this morning!" Danny protested.

"King Plasmius decided it's time you started taking the yellow one," the parrot said, flying into the room. "He's says it's time to complete the change. Master Clockwork agreed."

Every ghost in the room erupted with cheers.

"No more little half ghost," Ember murmured, her lips hovering above his right ear. "No more being warm."

He looked back at her with sky blue eyes. "Finally," he murmured. "What made King Plasmius change his mind, I wonder?"

"No idea, babypop."

* * *

The room erupted in an uproar.

"Vlad!" Jack warned, "I know you want peace with the ghosts, but that is not possible. They stole our children."

"After you murdered theirs," his best friend reminded him. "You and these others present agreed to the exchange. The Sanchez's are not present, I see."

"Murder-suicide, Maddie noted sadly, "It was right after Danny's kidnapping. Vlad, will you help us get him back? We have to know."

"He grew up in the Ghost Zone, Mads," her husband reminded her. "He's one of them."

"Part of him is still human."

"He didn't know us."

"I saw something in his eyes just before he escaped," Maddie answered.

"Then by all means, make another foray into the Ghost Zone and kidnap the boy back," Vlad snarkily replied.

"That's a great idea," Pamela Manson said, clapping her hands. "We'll hold the fort for you while you're gone."

"Bad idea," Jazz Fenton declared from another corner of the room. "We should just leave him alone."

"This is your little brother, we're talking about," Maddie and Jack protested.

"Not like you cared," she whispered, "You let him be kidnapped; you didn't know he existed half the time."

"Jasmine!"


	5. Knowing

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Knowing**

* * *

"So, you're going in still?" Vlad asked the loveable oaf known as Jack Fenton, where he, Maddie, Jazz, and Jack were putting the last of the provisions in the Spectre Speeder.

"Yes," Jack replied, putting down his burden and turning around. "Thank you, V-man for staying and looking after Jazz."

"She is old enough to take of herself," Vlad reminded him. "Especially after all the rigorous training she's received growing up from the both of you."

"Be that it may," Maddie answered before Jack, who shut his mouth, "we still would fill safer if someone were here with her."

Jazz grabbed a thermos and handed it to her father, who gave her a thumbs up. "I agree. It won't just be ghosts I may need protection from, Uncle Vlad."

Vlad threw both hands up in defeat. "I know when I'm outvoted."

Jack laughed. "That's the V-man, I know." He gave the supplies and weaponry the once over and double-checked the clipboard Maddie was holding. "Looks like we've got everything."

"Well, let's rock-and-roll," Maddie said. "I want to bring my baby home."

"I still think this is a bad idea, Uncle Vlad," Jazz said, after they left.

"I know," Vlad said, "but there is nothing I can do."

"But you're the Ghost King!" Jazz protested. "Surely, you would do everything in your power to protect Danny from them?"

"Yes, I can," Vlad reassured her, "but time must run its course. Daniel has been informed of the next stage in his journey. Your brother is fine, Jazz. Do not fear."

"Thank you, Uncle Vlad," she said, hugging him. His arms folded around her and they stood watching the portal for what felt like hours.

* * *

The skeletal parrot-horse phased into the walls of the parlor, depositing Danny roughly on the floor. "Yee-haw!" Youngblood shouted, as it turned and raced up the steps. Ember had stayed behind at the Refuge, so as to take little Danni home with her. Poor girl had no soul to look after her. Because of her resemblance to Danny, she was often called Phantom as well. It got downright confusing at times, but Danny thought of her as his little sister.

"Mother?" he called, getting up from the floor. "I'm home."

"In the kitchen, dear," Desiree called back. "Come and take your medicine."

"Okay."

"What is this stuff?" he asked her, taking the glass of yellow liquid from her.

"Dandelion milk," his mother replied, "with a few ectoplasmic additives."

"So what is it going to do and how long do I have to take it? I'm been taking the green stuff all my life."

Desiree nodded. "The ectoplasmic energy you've been taking has been slowing nibbling away at your humanity since you came to us. The dandelion milk will increase that. By week's end, you'll move on to the red, then finally, the blue. At month's end, the black, then the white, will be offered. Then, no more warmth."

Danny's face brightened at the prospect, then dimmed. "I'm worried about the hunters. What if they come after me?"

"You'll be well protected, my son," she said. "Drink up, then go to bed. School on the morrow."

"Cheers and beers," he said, lifting the glass in salute.

* * *

**Author's Note: Jazz is one of the few people who know that Plasmius and Vlad Masters are one and the same person. She caught him transforming one day, and they have been thick-as-thieves since then. Vlad keeps her informed of Danny's progress over time, that is why she is not overly concerned for him. She loves her little brother and wants him to be happy.**


	6. The Girl in the Tale

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**The Girl in the Tale**

* * *

**(11 years ago)**

_"Tell me a stowy, Unca Vlad! Pwease!"_

_"Sure, Jazzie. Let me give Danny his medicine first."_

_"No, Unca Vlad, tell Danny story too."_

_The white haired man in his twenties chuckled as he gave Danny a new bottle of the green elixir. Desiree had been adamant about keeping the child when she stormed his castle last week. He'd been horrified to hear how his former friends had treated the poor boy, and resolved to never allow the boy to go near the humans again. Yet, here he was, a week later, with the boy in the human world telling stories to a very bright red-haired girl. He chuckled._

_"Alright. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful ghost with dark green skin and ruby eyes who loved a white-haired half-ghost prince..."_

* * *

**(Present-Fenton Works)**

"So, what is Danny like now, Uncle Vlad? What are his favorite foods? What does he study in school? Does he go to school? Does he still take that yucky green medicine?"

Vlad laughed as he placed one finger on the human girl's lips. "In order: insolent and and snarky like any normal teenager; fish sticks and custard; survival tactics with the Shapeshifter, human languages and literary arts with the Ghost Writer, historical events with the Time Master, Human Psyche studies with Dr. Spectra and her assistant, and herbology with the Ancient Undergrowth. Yes, he goes to school-he is the most popular boy and spends an awful lot of time in human form when he annoys his adoptive mother. The medicine he takes is an ectoplasmic elixir that has slowly transformed him, allowing him to survive in the colder climes of our world. Daniel, even at this moment, has begun to take the yellow elixir-it will double the tranformation process."

"Is it uncomfortable for him?"

"No, Jazz," he told her. "This is what Daniel wants. Recent events have come to light, requiring the speeding up of the time needed, but even then a month is still required at the most for the process to be complete. I had hoped to have a few more years for him."

"Can I meet him someday?"

"You'll meet Phantom when your parents return. In the meantime, I would suggest you get ready for lunch."

"Alright."

* * *

**(Present-GZ HIgh)**

"Hello, Vice Principal Bullet, sir," Phantom greeted the one-eyed pirate at the door as he and Ember strode in. The man tsked as he opened the door for them.

"I swear Walker has your name etched into the detention room door, Phantom," Bullet said. "What did you do this time?"

"Had a run in with some ghost hunters," the boy answered truthfully. "Why is the school under lockdown?"

"Our scouts have spotted the Fentons in the perimeter," came the terse response. "Now, get to class!"

"Aye, aye, Captain Sparrow!"

"AND QUIT CALLING ME THAT!"

"Aye, aye, Captain Crunch!"

"PHANTOM!"

* * *

**(Present- Spectre Speeder)**

"I'm getting some really strange readings from that building down there," Jack whispered to Maddie as they hovered several hundred feet above what appeared to be the local high school.

"Jack, look, down there!" Maddie exclaimed, watching two teens alight from a floating guitar which the ghostly diva shrunk and strapped to her back. "It's him!"

"How are we going to get to him?" Jack wondered. "There are too many ghosts and not enough thermoses."

"A very good question, human," the ghost of a lawman from the thirties stated dryly. "May I ask why you have decided to grace us with your presence this fine day?"

"We want the boy," she said. "The one who just went into the school with that girl."

The ghost glanced down and tsked. "I can't imagine what Mr. Pointdexter and Miss Sanchez could have done to rile you hunters up. Usually, they are the quietest of my inmates."

"Sanchez, as in Paulina Sanchez?" Maddie asked, voice raised in surprise.

"Yes," came the principal's comment. "She just completed her sojourn through the dark lands a mere half a shadow ago."

"Shadow?"

"Aye, hunter, a shadow in a unit of measurement equal in length to one of your years. A shadow can also be a type of symbiotic ghost or a style of cooking." The ghost shook his head. "I don't believe these two are who you seek. Who has stirred the dust this time in the human world?"

Maddie described the ghosts who had invaded her home a day or so before, only to have the ghost before her keel over laughing.

"Oh, that is so rich! Phantom is good as dead now. Even with one foot on the spiral path, there is no way the Observants will let this go unpunished. The boy trespassed in a hunter's lair; the boy is rightfully yours. Such is the law. Bullet!"

"Yes, sir?"

"The punk and the diva, fetch them," he ordered his second.

"At once, Walker."

Walker rolled his eyes at the pirate ghost who chortled in maniacal glee. "If you'll step into my parlor, my lord and lady huntress."

"Said the ghost spider to the fly," came the rejoinder. "Lead the way, my good man."


	7. Fine Painted, Silken Fool We Meet

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

**Fine Silken, Painted Fool We Meet**

The Clockwork Chronos paused in the process of taking roll and cocked his head slightly towards the door. There were four students in his room vying for the position of his apprentice when they came of age: Daniel Phantom, Ember Mclain, Sidney Pointdexter, and an Observant child known as Dex. "Daniel, Ember, the moment we spoke of is at hand. Daniel, drink this before you go." He handed him two vials-one red, the other blue.

"I'm not supposed to take those until mid-chrona," Phantom protested.

"All times are present in my class," the Clockwork Chronos told him. "You need only take the yellow, blue and red elixirs once, while the green must be taken for half a lifetime for the morphamagus process to take place. When you return, it shall be the black and then the white and then, finally, you'll be fully of our world."

Ember slapped Danny on the back. "Come on, Danny. You know we have to go; the Time Master told you a long time ago, you had to meet them again someday."

"I know," he groaned.

"Time Master, pardon the intrusion, but Principal Walker wishes to speak with these two," Bullet said, after knocking on the door and Clockwork baded him enter. He gave them both sinister looks.

"I'm in trouble," Danny moaned.

"When aren't you?" Sidney teased, looking up from his desk.

Dex snickered, "See you in court, Phantom."

Ember flicked him in the head as she passed and guided Danny to the door. "Whatever we did this time, Danny, it can't have warrant a trial before the Observants."

"There is more than you know to the laws governing our worlds, child," Bullet told her. "And both of you have broken one of the most sacred."

Danny and Ember looked at him askance and bewilderment.

"If you trespass in a hunter's lair, unless invited, then to the hunter you belong," he recited. "Do you not remember learning this from King Plasmius last term during the assembly?"

"I think we were making water bombs backstage with Youngblood and Danni," Ember mused. "You got stuck as a human for a month for that, I recall."

"And King Plasmius confiscated your guitar and made you move in with Klemper for a week," Danny shot back, blue eyes twinkling.

Bullet chuckled. "And I well recall the two weeks worth of detention all four of you had. It was amusing, to say the least, to see Walker and King Plasmius draped with seaweed and brackish salt water. Ah, here we are. In you two go and behave. Miss Ember, you're guitar, if you please."

Ember unstrapped her guitar and handed it over. She hated giving it up, but Walker's rules were Walker's rules."

"Principal Walker, they are here."

"Get in here, punks."

Both teens tensed and Danny held the door open for her, as they entered. Walker's office was straight out of a Dick Tracy comic, complete with week old stale cigarette smoke. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. _They really should outlaw that._

His attention turned to the two humans occupying the "favored" chairs of Walker's pets. "Master Clockwork said that my human family has arrived to take me home."

Walker and the Fentons exchanged glances. The boy was astute.

"Yes, Danny-boy, we've come to take you home. We'll find a cure for whatever these filthy ghosts did to you. I promise," the woman said, rising to her feet and turning around so that Danny got a good look at her. _Walker's translation device be thrice cursed,_ he thought, as he and Ember recognized the hunters.

"Phantom, run!" Ember shouted.

"Where to?" Walker drawled. "The doors are sealed, guards are right outside, and you, two, officially belong to the Fentons. The law is the law and you and I both know the punishment that awaits you. They're all yours."

Maddie uncapped a thermos and pointed it at Ember and sucked her inside. She walked over to Danny and grasping his chin, raised his eyes to her hers. "It's time to come home, Daniel Fenton. You are human, not a ghost."

Walker knew that by lunchtime, the news of Phantom's and Ember's capture by the hunters would be all over the school. Now all he had to do was listen to the rumor mill and find out who else among Phantom's cronies were involved and then his school would be free of the riff-raff forever. He smiled as the Fentons thanked him and led the angry, sulking boy out of the room, his hands bound by some glowing blue fishing line.


	8. Dark Abyss of Sleep

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Dark Abyss of Sleep**

* * *

**(Fenton Works)**

* * *

"Jazz, how would you feel like inviting Miss Manson and Mr. Foley over to visit? You seem lonely."

"Uncle Vlad, my parents are due back any moment with Danny and you want me to have a slumber party?"

"I didn't say a slumber party, Miss Fenton," Vlad said, shaking his head. "I need them as a distraction. I need to be in my other form shortly."

"Can we let them in on whatever you're cooking up?"

"Certainly."

"Okay, I'll go call them."

* * *

**(Specter Speeder)**

Maddie prepare the small shower spray that served as a mobile shower. She'd stripped her son of the clothes he wore in the Ghost Zone and placed them in a decontamination bag. She'd burn them later. She handed him a pair of blue jeans, a white t-shirt with red trim (similar to his old shirt that she'd destroyed on his earlier trip to the human world) and some socks. "The shoe's I'm afraid will have to wait. We don't know what size you wear. We'll go shopping in a few days for them and more clothes."

"How you know?" he asked her in a halting tone.

"We guessed based on the shirt you left behind, sweetie," she told him. "Danny, I know this is traumatic for you, but we love you."

He replied sharply in the ghost language, but the only words Maddie and Jack were able to understand were "Mom...say...not...care...me." He rose up as Maddie picked up the two vials of his medicine.

"What are these?" she asked him sharply. "Are you taking drugs?"

"Medicine," he told her. "One time. Forgot to take." He wanted to bang his head on the wall. He really should have studied human languages more.

Jack put the auto Jack on and came and joined them in the back. "Everything alright?" he asked, putting his arms around his wife. Danny felt he was the more dangerous of the two, despite what he'd seen the last time about his poor shooting skills.

"Everything is alright, Jack. Danny was telling me about some medicine he was given to take. I don't think he really needs to take these," here she showed him the two vials. "It more than likely is some sort of poison concocted by the ghosts to strip away his humanity from him. Even now, I think he's more ghost than human."

"He still looks human and that's what counts," Jack told him. "Maddie, you forgot to unbind him. He can't change with his hands tied together. Let me take care of this."

"Alright, Jack," she said, handing him a cookie.

Danny wanted to lunge at them and rip the vials from their bloody murderous hands. _I have to get it at any cost and get Ember out of their trap. Maybe if I pretend to cooperate, they will be put off their guard long enough for me to get out of here. _

"I am Danny Phantom," he said in clear human tongue to the hunter. "I only half-ghost. Need take medicine. Mom say so. Warm sick." He pointed to his human form for emphasis.

"You prefer being called Phantom?" Jack asked.

"Yes."

"And this is medicine to make you feel better?"

"Yes. Warm sick."

Jack thoughtfully examined the vials. He would have to do some experimenting on the elixirs to see exactly what the components were and what effects they were having on his son. "Warm not sick," he told the boy. "You do not need this medicine. I am going to unbind you and you will put the clothes on, Danny. You are a Fenton and Fentons do not get sick."

"Jack, don't tell him that!" Maddie called out from the front seat.

Danny shook his head. Ghosts got sick on occasion and Danny was sick. The red and blue elixirs were the next stage of his journey. He had to take them by mid-chrona or he was screwed. He sighed. Only six chronons to go and his mother's spell would be at an end. He watched as Jack demonstrated the usage of the shower and then unbound his wrists so that he could bathe and change.

"Warm," he told the man, touching him reassuredly. "For chrona, warm."

Jack had no idea what the boy was trying to convey, but he was seriously going to have to complete the Ghost Gabber when they got back.

* * *

**(Specter Speeder)**

"Based on the basic dictionary we have of ghost speech," Jack was saying to Maddie, while Danny lifted the shirt over his head, "is that a chrona is a measurement of time equal to a week."

"Poor baby," she whispered, as a thought dawned on her, "Jack, I think what Danny was trying to tell us is that whenever he is able to break free of whatever poison they have him on, he can only take his true form once a month for a week. The poison is usually given to him mid-week so he can't shift. He's been taken this poison all his life, so it's given him a balance between both forms. That's why he's so weak right now and was able to tell us."

The thermos snorted unfemininely.

Danny knew he could use his basic powers while warm, but he also didn't know this section of the Ghost Zone very well. Usually, Skulker was with him when they went exploring and the big metal bully wouldn't return until next week rolled around.

He tugged on the jeans and found them a bit snug, but was able to get them on if he layed down on his back and sucked in his gut. Ember would be rolling if she saw him like this. His sensitive hearing caught her trying not to snort with laughter. Whatever the humans were saying, it couldn't be that funny. He tugged on the socks and padded back to the front of the vehicle.

"Can have soup?" he asked, pointing to the thermos.

"No, Danny," the huntress told him. "This ghost is very dangerous; she will help us with our research."

"Give soup...not kill Ember!" he exclaimed, grabbing the device and taking off towards the back of the vehicle.

"Hey, watch it, dipstick!" she yelled as he accidentally shook it.

"Sorry," he apologized, slipping into the ghost tongue. He saw Jack coming and slipped into invisibility and hid in the farthest corner he could find. "What were they talking about just now?" he whispered.

Ember regaled him with their discovery about the medicine and Danny's forms. Danny snickered at the assinity of it. Something sharp jabbed into his arm, then he felt nothing.

Jack picked up the thermos which fell from the now visible ghost boy's hand. He picked up Danny and put him down on a cot which he pulled down from the wall. He hummed to himself as he checked the small ecto-sensor on his wrist; it could detect a ghost's cold spot even when it was invisible. Danny was easy to pin-point.

"You are human, Danny-boy; you _will_ be **our** son." Saying this, he violently shook the thermos containing Ember. "And you, girl, your ectoplasm will fuel our research and we will end your King's miserable life once and for all."

Ember's muffled screams fell on deaf ears.

* * *

**(Fenton Works)**

Sam and Tucker raced over to Fenton Works and down into the lab just in time to see Mr. Masters, the Fentons' old college friend, turn into a softly glowing vampirish looking figure. Jazz waved them over and didn't look surprised.

"Jazz, is that who I think it is?" Sam asked.

Tucker whipped out his PDA and did a quick analysis. "He's a ghost!"

Jazz laughed at both of her friends' reactions. "I've known him all my life," she told them. "Guys, meet Plasmius, King of all Ghosts." She made a sweeping bow to him, which he returned mockingly.

"Wait, he's the guy who kidnapped all those kids and then start a war?" Tucker said, backing up. "I'm too young to die. I have even dated a cheerleader yet."

"And not going to happen," Sam told him. "I don't think he's that evil. Why are you here, Plasmius?"

"Nice pleasantries, child," he answered, flashing his fangs at her. "As the Ghost King, I have an intimate connection to each of my subjects and to my realm. I may not know everything that occurs, but I do have friends in high places."

"So what does this have to do with Danny?" Jazz asked him. "I know you have some sort of plan cooked up."

"I always do," Plasmius reassured her. "Your parents will have custody of Daniel and young Miss Mclain by this time and are already on the way back. Daniel's human form will prevent his being captured in the thermos, but Miss Mclain does not have his immunity. They will dissolve Miss Mclain back into her basic ectoplasm to fuel their dastardly research into my kind."

"And...?"

"Daniel would have been given two decoy vials of colored water," he said, pulling out two vials of a lightform liquid-blue and red. "These are the true vials containing the elixir he must take by mid-chrona, Wednesday," he explained. He turned to Sam and Tucker. "This is where you two come in. I need you to slip these to him; they are vital to the next stage of his journey."

"Why is he in human form?" Jazz asked.

"Punishment for the fiasco in your parents' lab yesterday," Plasmius laughed. "Desiree, Daniel's adoptive mother uses that as her favorite punishment for the little badger. He hates being human."

"So, what else do we need to know?" Tucker asked.

"Daniel is only confined for six more days to human form, so the Fentons will be watching him like a hawk. He is limited to his basic powers; I need you to watch out for any devices they make use on him."

"Sounds simple enough," Sam said.

"One more thing," Plasmius added, "Daniel has very limited knowledge of the human language. You may have a hard time explaining things to him. Phantom is very precious to the ghost realm. We have few children of our own."

"So what about that loophole you were talking about?" Jazz interjected.

"Ah that," Vlad murmured, "leave that to me. You worry about freeing Miss Mclain from your parents' thermos. She is his sole line of sanity at times."

"Does Danny like prank people?" Tucker asked, changing the subject. "Cause I know this guy at school, who..."

"Tucker!" Sam yelled, kicking him in the shin. "Now is not the time for that. Kwan can wait; Danny is the now."

King Plasmius didn't reply, but shifted back to his human form. He handed the vials over the goth girl and the techno wizard. "Jasmine, Samantha, Tucker, the future resides on the outer hinges of this plan. Please be careful."

"We will," the three of them promised.

* * *

**Author's Note: You'll find out what the loophole is in a chapter or two.**


	9. Returning Home

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Returning Home**

* * *

Vlad laughed at the simplicity of the law regarding hunters and ghosts. If a ghost knowingly transgressed on the property of the hunter, the ghost's life was forfeit. If he or she managed to escape, he would soon know and punish the ghost accordingly. Daniel and Ember's transgress was intentional, but well-meaning.

The humans were to blame.

Oh, human travel into the Ghost Zone was to be expected, what with all the natural portals that opened everywhere and everywhen. Hunters were permitted to enter the Zone to study and observe and on the rarest occasion to seek their prey.

But the loophole that Plasmius knew was oh, so simple. Phantom's blood gave him immunity to this law, until he became fully one of the denizens of the realm. He had once declared Miss Mclain to be of his blood, and thus the law recognized this. Blood could be true or it could be claimed and shared. The boy's cohorts were being watched very carefully in the interim, while evidence was being gathered.

Because of the Fentons' trespasses and past murders, they would be tried before the Observant Council. Daniel and Ember's sharing would have to be proved as well. The young Dex had been right on that point.

But there was the month Daniel would have to live out in the human world so that he could have a choice. The red and blue elixirs would turn him three quarters spectral, with the black stopping his heart and the white completing the change.

"Here they come," he called, as the portal doors open and the Specter Speeder slid into its dock.

Jazz, Sam and Tucker watched as the Fentons came out of the vehicle and mechanically and methodically began unpacking and sorting the various supplies and gadgets they'd brought with them. A Fenton thermos was pressed into a slot and a beam of light opened, and a beautiful girl with blue skin and flaming blue hair and bright apple-green eyes cursed and swore at them. Her eyes fell upon the group watching her and she bowed respectfully to Mr. Masters. Thankfully, none of the Fenton adults noticed this.

Mrs. Fenton went back into the vehicle and returned with a boy about their own age, with very pale skin and long black hair. He was dressed very oddly, but that was to be expected with the mismatched clothes Jack and Maddie had procurred for the poor boy.

She arched an eyebrow at Vlad, when she saw Sam and Tucker staring at her.

"Jasmine thought Samantha and Tucker would like to see the results of the rescue mission so they could inform their parents of the success," Vlad told her.

"That was wise, but it will be a day or so before Danny will be free to leave the lab. We have to run a few tests to make sure he's not carrying any diseases that can affect the human populace."

"That is good," Vlad told her. "I took the liberty of enrolling Daniel at Casper High so that he can be near other young humans his age. Jasmine, Miss Manson and Mr. Foley have agreed to help him get to know his way around. I have also enlisted the help of Miss Grey to tutor him in English so that his vocabulary can be brought up to par."

"Thank you, V-man! How ever can we repay you?" Jack exclaimed, hearing the last part of Vlad's words.

"You can die," he answered sincerely, then burst out laughing. Jack and Maddie joined in. They never knew when Vlad was serious or not, and Vlad was happy to keep them that way.

* * *

"I didn't know Valerie was part of the plan," Tucker said, as Jazz whisked him and Sam upstairs.

"I didn't either, but Vlad doesn't always tell me everything. Have you got the vials?"

"Yeah," Sam showed them to her.

"Good, then come Monday morning, get Danny aside and give them to him. Speak slowly so he can understand you and..."

"Jazz, we know what to do. We know you're worried about your little brother, but peace. We can handle it," Tucker told her.

"Alright."


	10. Child of the Rings

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

Note: Kosmic reminded me of another facet of the law concerning hunters capturing ghosts in the Zone, so all hats off and full credits to you, Kosmic.

* * *

**Child of the Rings **

* * *

The tests Danny had to take were horrible, Ember thought, as she watched through the clear walls of her prison. King Plasmius was in human form helping to comfort her lover. Though Danny constantly pranked him, the fruitloop had a heart of gold. Ember respected him for that.

Another thought crossed her mind. She remembered another friend of hers, Kosmic, who had taken Ghost Zone Civics with her. When the new laws on human-hunter relations were passed, Kosmic had raised a good point.

Ember had written to the King of all Ghosts and received a short note in reply:

_If a hunter enters our world with the intent on forcibly taking one of our denizens, that accounts to murder, whether they commit the act or not. If they take a denizen, who knowingly trespassed in their domain, then they will not be held accountable. I know you are talking about the Fentons, Miss Mclain and believe you me, they will face the Observant Council._

_Sincerely,_

_Vladimir Plasmius_

Now, here she and Danny were, in the hands of the Fentons. King Plasmius, in his human form, seemed to be on good terms with them. She knew he was there to help them, as rescueing friends wasn't really considered breaking the law. Johnny and Kitty were safe now, while she and Danny paid the price. King Plasmius was shielding Youngblood and his parrot from Walker, she felt, for the twerps had equal part in that venture.

She winced, as the huntress drew samples of Phantom's murky ectoplasm-it was still tainted with human blood. She'd seen the elixirs in the younger human's hands, so she could only hope that this was part of the plan the King had cooked up.

Danny felt a sharp pinch, then a light was shown into his eyes.

'They're dilating properly," the hunter stated. "We should have waited, Maddie, until he was fully awake, to draw the samples."

"Nonsense, Jack," the woman scoffed. "It's safer this way."

"What other tests do you need my help for?" King Plasmius said, from somewhere near Danny's right ear. "He will wake up any moment now."

"I would say he's up now," Maddie said, turning to face the boy, a sample of his unnaturally colored blood in her hands. "Danny, sweetie, how are you feeling?"

"Scared," he told her. "Warm sick."

Maddie's face fell. "Oh, Danny, we'll make you all better soon."


	11. Blue Elixir

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Blue Elixir**

* * *

Edward Lancer was excited. One of the lost children had been found by the Fentons late last evening. He had missed the meeting, but knew the boy was their son, who been raised as one of the filthy spectral creatures. He looked forward to fill the boy's empty mind with the fount of all human knowledge.

"Class, we have a new student joining us today. He is the son of Amity Park's finest ghost hunters; he was rescued late last evening from the ghosts who kidnapped him many years ago. Daniel, tell the class a little about yourself."

The boy's blue eyes flickered to his, pale face shining with sweat. Maddie had threatened Ember with melting if he complained about being human. He tapped his chest and bowed to the class respectfully in ghost fashion. "My name Danny," he said in halting English. "No good at human tongue. Trying."

The class burst into excited whispers.

"Maybe he knows what happened to the others..."

"Think he's part ghost?"

"He's so dreamy."

"You may sit next to Mr. Foley and Ms. Manson over there," Mr. Lancer instructed him. "Since you met them briefly upon your arrival, they have volunteered to be your guides and to tutor you, along with Miss Grey."

"Thank you, sir," Danny said, slipping into the ghost tongue. "I will try my best to learn. I don't want Ember to die."

Mr. Lancer, forewarned by Mrs. Fenton of Danny's dual nature, nodded. "Just try, Danny. I know it will be hard at first for you, but I will always be here to help you. Just ask when you need it."

The boy smiled faintly. He felt the overweight human could be trusted. "Okay," he said. "Try." He turned and walked to where Mr. Lancer had indicated he should sit.

The lesson was fascinating. This was a human languages class and he took as many notes as he could within the two kairos they had been given. King Plasmius had said it would help him and Ember in the long run if he were to cooperate with the hunters and the humans.

* * *

Okay, the human world sucked big time. In the Ghost Zone, the teachers andd students respected one another. Fights were kept to a minimum and only basic powers were used. Here in the human world, the teachers didn't give a fig about the students so long as they did their homework and did well in sports.

Danny's first meeting with the school bully, Kwan, had come at lunch when he smashed Danny's face into the food on his tray. The smaller boy scowled up at him. "Why?"

"I felt like it, geek. Welcome to Casper High."

"Looks like you've been properly initiated," Sam said, setting her tray down next to him when he came back from the restroom.

His puzzled look told her he hadn't understood all her words.

"Drink," she said, handing him the vial containing the red elixir. "King Plasmius gave them to us."

"He says you can trust us, dude," Tucker added in Esperanto, as he slid in across from them. Daniel was well-versed in Esperanto, due to it being the only language a werewolf friend of his named Wulf could speak.

"Thank you," he replied, taking the medicine from them and uncorking it. He drank it swiftly; it tasted like cherries.

Mr. Lancer nearly dropped the tray he'd been carrying, when he saw Ms. Manson hand Daniel Fenton is a small glass vial. Mrs. Fenton had warned him about a poison the boy had been forced to take by the ghosts that was slowly killing him. The boy was a fighter, he'd been told, and once a month managed to break free of the ghosts' hold. Two vials had been found on him; the elixirs were found only to be colored water and they had been destroyed. A cruel trick to play on the helpless boy.

"What was that?" he thundered, running over to them in time to see Mr. Fenton fall over, glass vial in hand. He picked it up and sniffed. It had no scent. "What was in here, Ms. Manson?"

"Cherry juice," she said, handing over her clear thermos, also full of a red liquid. "I didn't know if Danny was allergic to it or not, so I gave him only a small amount. I didn't know this would happen to him."

"Be that it may," Mr. Lancer snapped, "both of you will receive a detention and I will notify both of your parents..."

"Hey, Sam," Valerie swooped down on the trio and the teacher. "I take his system's not acclimated to human foods yet."

"Not to the cherry juice," she said, "Mr. Lancer was just telling us that we need to be more careful with what foods we introduce Danny to. Right, Mr. Lancer?"

"Uh, yes, right," he said, handing her back the vial. "Do be more careful, Ms. Manson." He walked off as in a daze.

"A bit too close," a dark voice whispered a moment later. "The blue elixir will have to ministered outside of prying eyes."

"Thanks, Mr. Masters," Valerie replied in a low voice. "We owe you one."

"Protect Daniel and do the tasks I gave you," came the response. "I won't always be on hand to save you."

Danny opened his eyes. "Warm sick," he moaned.

"I know, little badger," King Plasmius whispered in his ear. "It will only be until the moon turns once in its cycle. Will you be alright?"

The boy nodded to his invisible helper. "I will be fine," he said in the ghost language. "Sam caught me by surprise with the red elixir. I thought I was to take the blue first?"

"The red and blue elixirs may taken in either order," came the whispered reply. "You will be given the other one in a safe-haven away from the humans. Perhaps a study-group, Miss Grey?"

"Sounds perfect," Valerie

* * *

"So who's up for the Nasty Burger?" Tucker asked as the last of the lockers had been slammed shut for the day.

"Can't," Danny said, turning around, a painful expression on his face. "Home. Test. Study. No fun or Ember die."

Valerie's mouth opened and closed like a fish when Sam whispered to her the ground rules that the Fentons had laid down for Danny before school that morning.

_"You may go to school and only school," Jack had stated to the boy when he'd come downstairs for breakfast. "After school, you will submit to whatever tests your mother and I design for you, no matter how painful. Then you will study the dictionary for 2 hours, after which we will quiz you on what you have learned. Finally, you will finish all your homework and maintain no lower than a solid B minus. You are a Fenton and we do not have failures in this family."_

_"One more thing, Danny," Maddie said, placing a bowl of glowing green oatmeal in front of him. "Jazz will tutor you in whatever you are lacking. If you so much toe a foot outside these guidelines, the ghost girl will die."_

_Danny looked up at both his parents, then down at the glowing green mush they expected him to eat. "Clear," he told them, though in truth, he'd understood only about 1/4 of what they were saying. _

"Ember is Danny's girlfriend," Sam explained. "The Fentons are using her to force Danny to what they want. He's stuck as a human for about five more days. We gave him one of the two vials this afternoon, so his blood tests will reflect more than a fifty percent change. He'll be about 3/4th's ghosts by Wednesday if we can sneak him the other one."

Valerie was shocked. "To do this to their own son? This is physical and psychological abuse. We have to tell someone."

"I already know," King Plasmius replied, appearing in his human form. "I want you to take Danny to the Nasty Burger or wherever you kids were planning on hanging out this afternoon. I will take care of everything."

"Alright," they all said.

Danny hugged the King of all Ghosts. "Sorry about the prank with the water balloons," he said, slipping into the ghost tongue, "and the ectopi."

"Quite alright, little badger," a strange look crossed his face, when Danny's words registered. "What about the ectopi?" he yelled after the boy, who was laughing his head off.

"Ectopi?" Tucker asked Danny, who just winked at him.

* * *

"So, you will study for my exams in the future?" Clockwork asked the trembling boy before him.

"Yes, sir," came the boy's response.

"Good, now there are things you must know that have happened in the human and ghost realms within the last few days."

"What things?" Skulker demanded to know.

"Things," came the rejoinder.

* * *

Vlad got back into his limo, two ectopi were already seatbelted. Vlad raised an eyebrow at this. "His pets are trained for a change." Teal eyes flashed crimson for a moment, then softened.

"When we get there, into the portal you go," he told them. Both chirped in agreement. Vlad had to chuckle at the sight; how had Daniel talked his driver into giving the creatures a ride to begin with?

"Jonathan?" he called, tapping on the glass.

"Yes, sir?" the human driver asked, rolling down the partition a little.

"I take it you know about our little hitchhikers?"

"Yeah, it was hard to understand what the foreign kid was saying, but the gist of it was that you wouldn't mind, sir. I wasn't supposed to do that, was I?"

"It'll be alright, this once, but in the future, clear it with me first."

"Thank you, sir," the driver said, rolling up the partition again. At least Molly wouldn't kill him for loosing this job.

* * *

Danny stared at the fries that Sam plunked down in front of him and a soda. Tucker followed with a Triple Nasty special. Valerie whisked it away and returned with a salad. All three teens starting bickering when Danny cleared his throat.

"Not kill?" he asked, slightly amused. "Eat?"

A three-way exchange on the food and a lot of laughter ensued. Danny gave the burger to Tucker and the salad to Sam, but shared the fries with Valerie. The soda he refused to touch; the human carbonated beverage was harsh to his tongue.

"Do you hang out with your friends after school?" Tucker asked, seeing Danny's face saddened.

"Some. Refuge," Danny replied. "Miss home."

"You have the other vial?" Sam asked Tucker.

"Here," he replied, fishing it out. He handed it over to her.

"Here, Danny," Sam said, reaching across the table and taking the vial from Tucker. A large slender hand grabbed it before she could.

"Tut, tut, Sammykins," Kwan sneered, "giving our darling new geekazoid drugs. What would his parents say?"

"Medicine," Danny said, standing up, blue eyes flashing green. "Warm sick."

"Aww, is the itty bitty ghostie going to kick my butt to get his drugs back? Or is he going to get his girlfriend to do it for him?" Kwan taunted, only to get backhanded by something metallic.

"Yours, I believe, Phantom," a deep voice came from the robot with the flaming green mohawk. The occupants of the Nasty Burger quickly cleared out.

"We'd better get out of here before they call your parents, dude," Tucker said. Valerie and Sam quickly agreed and the robotic ghost joined them.

Danny glared at the boy who'd attacked him. "Chrona over, you pay. Told you need medicine. Warm sick."

Reconvening at the park, the three humans assessed the robotic ghost and decided he was a friendly danger. After introductions were made, it was discovered that Skulker had a translator as part of his most recent upgrade, which coverted human to ghost language and back. Tucker asked Skulker if he could download it to his PDA and the hulking metal ghost agreed.

"You'll still need to study the flash cards," Valerie told him. "It'll help serve as a mnemonic device."

"Be that it may," Danny grumbled, via the translator. "This chrona has been short of a disaster. I will be glad when I can get back to normal."

"What did you do to tick off your mother, this time, Phantom?" Skulker wondered.

"The Time Master didn't tell you?" Danny countered.

"Only that you encountered your birth parents on a rescue mission and pissed off Walker in the process. Then again," here he paused and gave an evil grin, "you do that on a daily basis."

"Why is he calling you, Phantom, Danny?" Tucker wanted to know, as Sam's phone went off.

"It is my name," Danny replied. "And Desiree found out and grounded me for a chrona in human form. All I have access to are my basic powers."

"Which are in your case, intangibility and invisibility, since flight is an impossibilty for a human," Skulker clarified for the humans. "And ecto-rays," he added after Danny zapped him in the butt for demonstration much to their amusement. "Very funny, Phantom," he grumbled.

"Danny, that was Mr. Masters," Sam said, flipping her phone shut. "He set the ectopi loose in the Fenton lab and managed to get Ember free. They can no longer hold the threat of killing her over your head. Skulker's presence registered and they're on their way to fetch you home."

"I'd better drink the medicine then," Danny replied, uncorking it. Draining it in one gulp, he smacked his lips. "Tastes like blueberries."

"You got blueberries in the Ghost Zone?" Valerie asked, putting the flash cards in her back pocket. They could hear the GAV screeching to a halt.

"We import them from the human world," Danny translated, just as Ember came flying ahead of the Fentons in a panic and grabbed Danny.

"Danny, hide me, quick!" she cried.

Danny looked at Skulker. "Take her to Vlad Masters; he is King Plasmius in human form."

"I will; be safe, Phantom," he said, scooping up Ember bridal style and flying off, soaring to a height where the Fentons' weaponry couldn't reach him and turning invisible and intangible to be on the safe side.

"Young man, you deliberately disobeyed us!" Maddie thundered at him. "And now two dangerous ecto-scum are on the loose in the city. We'll be all night hunting them down."

Danny raised his chin defiantly, his blue eyes flashing green. The full effects of the blue elixir would change him during the night while he slept; it wasn't as violent as the red one. "Help study," he said, pointing at the humans huddled behind him. "Be normal. What you want, not?"

Tucker fiddled with his PDA without the Fentons noticing and brought up the text translator as Danny slipped into the ghost tongue and told his parents off in non-polite language. Valerie and Sam blushed at some of his choice words.

"Okay, enough," Valerie silenced them. "Mrs. Fenton, Mr. Masters was worried about Danny's lack of social skills and asked us to watch out for him and to catch him up in his studies." She showed them the elementary flash cards that she'd bought to help Danny.

"And what about the drugs you gave him at the Nasty Burger?" Jack demanded. "One of the students was beaten up and threatened by Danny and a ghost because of it."

"Medicine," Danny corrected. "Warm sick. You destroy medicine. What drug?" He scrunched up his face trying to think of the right words. "No study big book of words. Headache. Flash cards better. Valerie, Sam and Tucker can help Jazz."

"His vocabulary is already improving," Jack murmured to Maddie, "and we did destroy that false medicine crap they were feeding our son. I think it would be beneficial so long as it was done in the kitchen, so we can monitor them."

"If you say so," Maddie said in a resigned tone and then repeated the terms to the kids. Everyone agreed, even Danny, much to their surpise.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Ghost Zone, Plasmius entered his case against the Fentons before the Observant Council, citing the evidence and called forth several witnesses including Walker, Desiree, and several of Danny's friends and family. He, then, produced a sphere which projected a holographic image in real time of the Fenton family.

_Danny was hooked up to an examination table and the Fentons extracted samples of his ectoplasm. Jack screamed at the boy and cursed at his findings, foam flying off his lips. _

_"They found a way to change your blood. You are more one of them than human!"_

_Daniel Phantom smiled. "Warm sick," was all he said, before Maddie placed an oxygen mask over his face. _

Walker was shocked. He had no idea the Fentons were this psychotic. True the boy was a pain in the ass and a thorn in his side, but not even he deserved this from his own flesh and blood. "Plasmius, how recent is this footage?"

"Real time," the King of all Ghosts answered. "I have recruited four young humans to give Daniel the red and blue elixirs so he could complete his journey. They destroyed the false vials as soon as they touched mortal soil."

Desiree stood and announced, "I would renounce my words so that my son may escape his tortureres, but he must be given the chance to choose humanity over spiritual life."

King Plasmius nodded. "Daniel prefers our world to theirs; the boy has made it clear. Which brings me to the second case I now bring before the council: the boy's willful violation of the trespass law."

"We will hear it," the Observant Prime announced. "Present your evidence."

Walker rose. "I call forth Johnny13 and Kitty Fischer."

Both teens rose grimly and walked to the front of the room.


	12. Late Twilights to Midday

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Late Twilights to Midday**

* * *

"It was horrible!" Kitty cried, while Johnny rubbed her shoulders. "Johnny and I went to the Refuge for dinner and dancing and while on the way back, the ghost hunters were there and blasted us off Johnny's bike. Madame Spectra had insisted we needed a chaperone, so I blackmailed Phantom and 'borrowed' the parrot. As soon as I realized what was happening, I sent him back to Phantom's little brother with instructions to find Phantom and tell him what happened."

"And what happened next?" the Observant Prime questioned.

Johnny 13 took up the tale. "Right after the parrot left, this really big cylindrical vehicle materialized and the hunters jumped out. They sprayed us with some sort of paralysis gas and sucked us into a soup thermos. I don't remember anything after that until Phantom and Ember rescued us."

"Was not Youngblood or the parrot also present?" Walker demanded to know, when given permission to speak.

Kitty and Johnny exchanged worried glances.

"We heard their voices," Johnny answered, "but neither of us saw them."

"I, myself, was there," Plasmius added, "and I was the one to actually release these two from the entrapment device."

Walker snorted at the obvious attempt at a cover-up, but let it slide. "True," he said, loud enough for the court hear, "but what other evidence do we have against the Fentons?"

"This," Plasmius answered, using words that would cause white curtains to blush vermillion.

"Language, Sire," the Observant Prime admonished him. "There are children present."

"I deeply apologize," Plasmius stated, "but you should see what was just shown me."

"Very well."

Walker frowned at this fresh new interruption in the proceedings, but his curiousity was stoked. What had the hunters done to outrage the king so?

_Phantom was currently in a hybrid state. His hair was raven with streaks of gray and white. His eyes were glowing a soft hazel. "Mom?" he asked, hazy as to his whereabouts._

_"Yes, sweetie," Maddie said, brushing back his bangs and lovingly kissing his forehead, while she checked his monitor. "How are you feeling?"_

_"Cold sick," he admitted. _

"To blazes with the proceedings!" the Observant Prime, howled, throwing all decorum out the window. "What say you, my brethren?"

"TO BLAZES!" the Observant Council roared back.

"Take your finest troops and bind the Fentons and bring them here," Plasmius ordered, taking charge. "Four other humans can provide the rest of the evidence we seek: Samantha Manson, Valerie Gray, Jasmine Fenton, and Tucker Foley. Each has had a part in helping Phantom with his recent trials. Also, I would like to you summon Youngblood, his parrot, Sidney Pointdexter, Danielle Phantom, Paulina Rose Sanchez and Dashiel Baxter. They were his immediate peers and ought to have a say in whether young Daniel should complete his journey."

"Any others, Sire?" Walker asked, writing the names down.

"Yes, two other humans from the mortal world: Kwan Li and Star Istre. I will speak to Phantom's adoptive mother, while you are carrying out your task, as she is already present."

"And the Time Master?"

"He is only allowed to intervene if the time line is threatened," the King of all Ghosts reminded him.

"Meddle," Walker teased.

"Same thing."


	13. Called to Be Light

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Called to Be Light**

* * *

Author's Note: There was some confusion over the present state of Danny. He isn't the first halfa the Fentons have gotten their dirty mitts on. What they've done that riled up the Observant Prime is to dare experiment on their own flesh and blood. The abrupt change in Danny could well lead to his death.

* * *

"Mrs. Sanchez, sorry to bother you, but is Paulina by any chance home?" Bullet asked, bowing low in respect. The Sanchez's were recent arrivals in the neighborhood, and were Paulina's biological parents. Their deaths were the result of the Fentons ripping away their little girl and putting her in the exchange program against their wishes.

"May I ask why?" Maria dared to ask.

"It's about that Phantom boy, isn't it?" Emilio, her husband, demanded, coming to investigate.

"Yes," Bullet admitted, outlining the situation for them.

"How horrible!" Maria whispered. "To neglect their own son at a tender age and then to abuse him when they have a chance to be reconciled. PAULINA!"

"Yes, mama?" the beautiful ghost girl said, coming downstairs, hesitating on seeing Walker's second at her doorstep. "Uh, Sidney didn't do it."

"Do what?" Bullet glowered at her. "Are we talking about the mishap involving a couple of feathers and a water balloon in Phantom's locker from the week before last? Or we talking about the recent hacking of Walker's computer to where it now belts out "Oops I Did It Again" every time he turns it on?"

"Uh, the latter," Paulina said. "Phantom's idea."

"Should have known," Bullet grinned. "That was a classic." He sobered. "I need you to fetch Mr. Pointdexter, Miss Sanchez, and come with your parents to the Hall of Observation. King Plasmius has been observing them for decades and finally enough evidence has been gathered to bring them to trial. You and yours are required to give evidence. We won't force you, but Phantom's life hangs in the balance."

"We will give evidence," Emilio answered for his family. "I am sorry that I killed myself and my wife, but what they did to my daughter and their son is inexcusable. Paulina just completed her journey and the boy was finally given approval for his own."

Bullet bowed low. "Please go now as the Great Council is expecting you. I must gather the rest of the witnesses."

The Sanchezes bowed in ghost fashion to return the honor that Bullet had bestowed upon them.

"Finally," Emilio said, hugging his wife and daughter, "they will receive their due."

* * *

From the Time Master's lair were called forth Ember and Skulker. Youngblood, his parrot, and Danielle Phantom were found within the confines of the goddess Pandora's hedge maze, trying to solve it. The argus grinned toothily at them and told them to try again next time. Dashiel Baxter was practicing a few throws on the football field with Ranger, a new player on the team.

"Dash?" Bullet called, crooking his finger at the boy.

"Yeah?"

"Phantom's journey has been disrupted. You were present at the Refuge when Phantom called his impromptu meeting. The Observant Council needs you ready to give evidence."

"Alright, Mr. Bullet, sir," Dash said, nodding his assent. "Hey, Ranger, mind we put this off until the storm blows over."

"Right with you, Dash."

Bullet nodded. Both young ghosts would be there. Phantom had a strong support group. In the normal timeline, Phantom would have been both idol worshipped and bullied by these young football players.

* * *

King Plasmius intercepted Ember and placed her in a quiet chamber. "This is going to hurt," she was told, "but you need to be strong."

He pulled out the orb and told her to watch.

_A raven-haired teen with pale blue eyes the color of the winter sky fixed his eyes on the quartet who entered. He struggled to get free of his bonds, but they were too tight. Jazz was sad to see her brother treated like a guinea pig, but was too terrified of being next in line to let him loose._

_"I'm sorry," she repeated to Danny for the hundredth time that day._

_"Okay," he said._

_"Oh my gosh, Danny!" Sam shrieked. "What have they done to you?"_

_"Elixir to turn human," he said in anger, shooting a dirty look at the door. "How long?"_

_"Today is Saturday, man," Tucker said. "You missed two days of school. We can only stay for a minute to give you your homework."_

_"How are you feeling?" Valerie asked._

_Danny's eyes clouded over. "Cold sick. Warm sick. Sick. Don't know."_

The view shut off.

"Jasmine didn't know this was going on until this morning," Plasmius explained. "I still don't think she understands the full ramifications of what will happen when her parents are brought here."

"She's going to tried as an accessory, isn't she?" Ember asked.

"No," Plasmius answered. "She's as much a victim of abuse as Daniel was. Desiree told me of her when she brought Daniel to me, but by the time we remembered, the gate was closed. We couldn't bring her across. I wish to the Ancients that we had. I never wanted to separate those two."

"And now?"

"It is up to the council if she'll be allowed to begin her journey. Daniel will be tested and if the changes aren't permanent, he will be immediately given the black and white elixirs."

"I hope so," Ember said. "You're going to fetch Danny back now."

"Walker is seeing to that aspect of the gathering."

"Good," she said. "I hope they spend an eternity with Klemper, with Technus thrown in for added measure."

The King of all Ghosts smiled for the first time that day. "Not such a bad idea," he mused. "I'll keep it in mind."

* * *

_"Chrona over?" Danny asked the dark-skinned teen._

_"Yes," Tucker said, "why?"_

_"The bonds aren't ectoplasmically reinforced," Jazz whispered, then her eyes widened. "Danny, don't!"_

_"Chrona over," he said, summoning the rings, changing to his ghost form. He had enough power to phase through them, before the energy faded, forcing to return to human form. "D-d-darn it!"_

_Alarms and an almighty din came from downstairs, followed by silence and a scream._

* * *

It was a nasty fight between the Fentons and Walker's crew. Two of the five guards carefully handpicked by the Warden were wasted by the ecto-cannon the burly hunter blasted into their midst as soon as they entered the human world.

"The boy is upstairs," Walker announced, tracing the ectoplasmic signature.

"Leave my son alone, filthy ecto-scum!" Maddie shouted, swinging her ecto-staff at his head, which he dodged. "You dare trespass onto our plane to steal him back."

"We are taking him home, woman," he stated. "Two of my men are dead. You have psychologically and physically abused the boy; I should never given him into your hands-the law be damned."

"We will fix him," Jack said, aiming the cannon at the ghost. "Get out."

"YOU ALMOST KILLED THE BRAT!" Walker shouted. "CHILDREN AMONGST OUR PEOPLE ARE VERY RARE. YOU AND YOUR WIFE HAVE SINGLE-HANDEDLY DESTROYED ANY HOPE FOR PEACE BETWEEN OUR WORLDS!"

The ghosts advanced and overturned the tables jammed with Fenton weaponry. Jack and Maddie gasped in fear when they realized the magnitude of trouble they were in. Maddie's eyes flicked upwards to the ceiling. "Jazz, Danny," she whispered, as a rod was placed to her neck and a small click sounded. Her world went dark; her husband joined her not long after.

"Pathetic," Walker sneered, and then turned his focus on the humans and the half-ghost peeking around the corner.

"Well?" he asked, arching an eyebrow at the halfa.

"No go back," the boy wearily told him. "Cold sick."

"No, Phantom," Walker told him, as the humans helped him down the stairs. "The Observants have rescinded the decision to allow you the final sojourn. What the Fentons have done must be taken into account and you will be tested."

"I will die," Danny pointed out, as Tucker's translation device took over. "Ember will die. We broke the law and belong to the Fentons now."

"That is for the Observants to decide," Walker replied. "Will you help Phantom into the portal? We require you to give evidence of these events."

"Do we have a choice?" Sam wanted to know.

"You always have a choice," Walker replied, kicking the silent of form of the male hunter. Turning to his nearest guards, he ordered them to bind the hunters tightly and place them in a ghost-proof/human-proof cell.

"Many things will be decided at the trial," Walker told the red-haired girl. "Your parents are murderers and may well be gifted with the Kiss of Oblivion. Your brother's testing will begin the moment we arrive. You may be tried as an accessory or you may offered a chance to begin your own sojourn. I would not refuse the offer."

"Become a ghost?" Jazz whispered, stunned. "But I..."

"They're giving you a chance to be with Danny, Jazz," Valerie interrupted her. "I speak for the group. We will do as you ask, ghost."

"I ask no more, human," Walker acknowledged.

"Why did you do that?" Sam and Tucker yelled at her, after he left.

"Think about it," Valerie replied. "Now, let's go before we get thrown into jail ourselves."

* * *

"He looks a bit scruffy," Nurse Coal said, as they gently placed the comatose halfling on the bed. King Plasmius had taken one look at Phantom and ordered him knocked out at once.

"After what the Fentons did to interrupt his journey, we're lucky he's not dead or worse," Doctor Bert Rand replied. As much as he hated the boy, he did provide dinner and entertainment once in a while.

"Right, Doc," the black and white humanoid cat ghost replied. "So what are we supposed to do?"

"Evaluate him, you idiot! We have to be able to restore him to 75/25 before the Observant Council will allow him to travel further."

"Okay." Ding!

"Are you wearing a bell on that choker?"

"Yes."

Deep sigh. "Never mind. Hand me my gloves."

"You're supposed to called me "Mary Anne", Doctor," Nurse Coal pouted.

"Shut up, Alice, and give me those gloves!"

* * *

The holding cell that Maddie and Jack were placed in was smack dab in the middle of the exercise yard with full exposure to the elements. It was little more than a sardine cage with a little tin roof that barely sheltered them from the rain.

"You don't deserve kindness," Walker said, sneering at them. "You are lucky I'm not allowed to execute you; that would have been merciful compared to what King Plasmius or the Observants will decide."

Jack and Maddie were both supporting various bruises and cuts; Maddie thought her arm was sprained. "Let us out of here," she demanded. "I want a lawyer."

"A human has already agreed to step up in your defense," Walker drawled, lighting a cigarette. He blew a puff ring in the air. "You went to college with him, I've been told."

Jack's head snapped up. Looking with shock at the Warden's hazy visage, he whispered, "Vladdie's here?"

"You're lucky to have him still stick up for you after all the crap you have put him through," Walker drawled. "Why, if it wasn't for you and your lovely wife there, we wouldn't have him as our king at all. So, thank you, dear Fentons. You really have been quite useful."

He looked at his watch. Snapping his fingers, two grinning ghost guards appeared and unlocked the cage. Dragging Maddie and Jack to a nearby wall, human proof chains were slid through their manacles and secured to bloody hooks embedded within the concrete wall.

"What are you doing?" Maddie yelled, trying to get free.

"Giving you some exercise," Walker explained, a sadistic grin on his face. "We're playing dodgeball today and Ward H is getting real ansty."

The guards snickered. Ward H was where the criminal masterminds were placed. Amongst them were Technus, Vortex, and Penelope Spectra. News spread fast in this place.

* * *

"I told you not to kill them, Walker!" Maddie barely heard the vampiric looking ghost yell at the Warden through the ringing in her ears. The ghosts of Ward H had been ruthless when they were told what 'crimes' they had committed; only Walker's stay of Vortex's last ball had saved them from utter annihilation.

Penelope Spectra had smirked and reduced her strong, confident husband to a quivering mass of jellied nerves with just the sound of her voice. Vortex and Technus were the ones who battered them with dodgeballs as their powers were shorted out of the silver arm bands they sported. Maddie turned her attention back to the argument at hand.

"I'm allowing the fat oaf to be evaluated by the prison doctor as he was more battered than the female," Walker shot back. "A little exercise won't kill you, either, Plasmius."

"I train every day, thank you," King Plasmius said drily. "So why is she still in this barbaric cage?"

"Kindness eludes her," Walker replied, walking around the cage and peering at Maddie who flinched away from his gaze. The human would be sporting bruises in the most improbable of places soon. "She nearly killed her own son."

"Maddie understands reason," Plasmius argued, "but I see your point. Madeline?"

Maddie looked upwards at the ghost who was addressing her. "What?"

"The doctor who is attending Daniel has managed to stabilize him. He's going to be fine. They are working to restore the ectoplasm in his blood stream to where it should be at his stage in the journey, " the vampiric ghost told her.

"Who are you?" she demanded, not seeing the guards unlocking her cell. "Where are you taking me? Put me down!"

"That's better," Walker drawled, after his guards bound and gagged the female.

"I am sorry, dear sweet Madeline, but there is someone I would have you meet," Plasmius told her. "Take her to the holding room near the fat oaf. They are not to be placed in the same room together."

"Whatever, Your Majesty desires," Walker stated.

"Don't patronize me, Walker."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

* * *

"How is he?" Desiree asked, approaching King Plasmius, now in his human form.

"He's going to be alright," Vlad replied. "As are the humans. Walker took it up in his head that the Fentons needed exercise and arranged for them to play Dodgeball with Ward H."

"Is he out of his freaking mind?"

Vlad laughed. "I wonder that myself sometimes. Jack and Maddie were not seriously hurt, though Jack had a little session with sweet Penelope."

Desiree brightened at that news. "Good."

"Desiree, would you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"I want you to talk to Madeline," Vlad told her. "You raised the boy. Besides me, very few of our people can speak the human tongue fluently; you are the bested gifted person I know of for this task. For all purposes, you are Daniel's mother, not the human in that room."

"I will do this for Daniel," she told him solemnly. "Do not ask anything else of me."

He smiled faintly. "Thank you, my love."

She pulled him in for a short passionate kiss. "When this is all over, you and I are going to have a nice long talk about our relationship."

"I'm looking forward to it," he replied.

* * *

Maddie Fenton was standing in the far corner of the room when the door opened, admitting a dark green-skinned Arabian harem girl with long black hair and bright ruby eyes. "Now what?" she demanded of this new tormentor.

"My name is Desiree," she announced in a loud, clear voice. "I am Phantom's mother."

"No," Maddie corrected. "I am Daniel's mother."

"Good," Desiree said, smiling. "We are off to a good start."


	14. One Left For Me

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**One Left For Me**

* * *

"What do you mean by that?" Maddie demanded. "No human can have a mother who is a piece of spectral garbage. My baby needs a warm, flesh-and-blood, _living_ mother."

"Maddie," Desiree interjected, conjuring a small hand-mirror and planted in front of the woman, exposing a beautiful, flawless, oval-shaped faced framed by matted bloody auburn hair. Green and yellow dotted the woman's neck and arms. "They left you only your face; for that is all you are-skin deep beautiful, and ugly as dried up bone. Daniel's mother is the woman who stayed up all night with him and sang him to sleep when a visit from Nocturne turned sour. Daniel's mother is the woman who taught him how to stand up for himself against overwhelming odds. **I** fed him, clothed him; **I** chastised him for wrong doing, and praised him when he did what was honorable."

"I BIRTHED HIM!" Maddie screamed at the ghost woman floating serenely in front of her.

"So you did," Desiree admitted, "but I found him abused, neglected and near death. Your other offspring was lavished and fawned over, but she, too, was headed down the same path as her brother. A city full of a thousand mortal souls would have been a better substitute for a mother than you, Madeline Fenton."

"How dare you!"

_SLAP!_

Vlad stood stock still in the doorway, stunned that his beloved would resort to a single hand-slap across the face.

Desiree shook her long hair out of her eyes. "There," she declared, seeing the fresh hand print across the mortal's face. "Now, your face matches the rest of your body."

Vlad, taking an opportunity to prevent Maddie from retaliating, cleared his throat. "That's enough, Des. Phantom's awake and stable. The doctor says a little wish can do wonders."

Her ruby eyes darkened for a moment. "Say the right words, love."

Vlad's arms encircled her waist; he pressed his lips to hers. "Need I say it, love? After this is all over, you and I will become one flesh. Phantom shall become my son and I am seriously going to have to curtail your other son's mischievous endeavors."

"He is your son, too, Vlad."

"I know."

Maddie felt like hurling. Her closest friend from college had closet sex with a dead woman and conceived a child on her. "I demand another lawyer. A human lawyer."

Vlad turned to face her. "There is no other who will defend you, Madeline," he told her seriously. "You are facing the death penalty, if convicted."

"So? I'll come back from the dead and haunt you," the ghost huntress said, sneering at him.

"No, you won't," Vlad intoned darkly. "The Observants have ways of preventing that. I have authorized them to do so. Desiree, I wish that dear Madeline and her husband were properly dressed for court. Leave the marks. Let every eye see them for the monsters they are."

"So you have wished it, so shall it be."

"Vlad!"

* * *

"Lords and ladies," the Court Regent called out, "I present the case of Madeline and Jack Fenton, hunters of our kind. They are here to answer for the twin crimes of murder and disruption of a journey. I say skip the trial and get to the part where I can play executioner."

"Walker, shut and sit down," Vlad growled. At the Observant Prime's arched eyebrow, he added, "And I object to that last bit of filthy doggerel."

"Sustained," the Observant Prime said, smirking at the interchange between the two old friends. "King Plasmius, will you and the Warden please approach the bench?"

Shouts of unrighteous anger erupted from the defense table, as Vlad smoothly transformed and floated up to the judge's dias. He turned around. "Shut up," he told them in the human tongue, "if you want to live."

* * *

"You cannot allow your feelings for the humans to override your duties to your own people," the Observant Prime said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I know they were your friends, but the crimes they have committed against ghostkin and their own flesh-and-blood cries out to the very universe which birthed them. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," the Ghost King replied.

"Walker, cool it," the Observant Prime said, his tone changing slightly to a warning. "It is your obsession to see justice done, but the humans are, after all, only humans. Am I clear?"

"Yes," Walker responded, green eyes narrowing to slits.

"Then as you were, gentlemen."

The afternoon proceedings were spent in selecting six peers to hear the case against Jack and Maddie Fenton. By the day's end, three mortals and three ghosts were sequestered against any outside influence. Vlad carefully chose Valerie Grey, Sidney Pointdexter, and Star Istre as they had a unique outsider perspective on the events that had led up to this day. Walker, on the other hand, chose Pamela Manson, the Lunch Lady and Pandora, for their fair sense of justice. The Observant Prime was not happy with this.

"Fair sense of justice?" Vlad asked, as they met once again with the Observant Prime. "How is an all female jury..."

"There is one male," the Observant Prime pointed out.

"Alright, how is a nearly all-female jury going to be fair to my clients?" Vlad said, folding his arms.

"Daniel has been surrounded by several mother figures his life long," Walker answered. "Pandora unleashed the world's first evils with her box and only with hope, she has been able to contain them. With hope, the Fentons will receive their due and still escape with their skins intact."

"You're not planning on giving them to Skulker, are you?" the Observant Prime wondered.

"Actually, yes," Walker admitted.

Plasmius and the Observant Prime exchanged glances, but said nothing.

"The Lunch Lady has been present around our youth since her earliest days, so she can provide a nurturing guidance for the younger members of the jury. Pamela Manson is a crusader, like her daughter. She's a negative, but beggars can't be choosers," Walker finished. "So what are your reason for selecting your three?"

"All three are close aquaintances of the boy: a friend, a bully and a lackey. All three have had some part to play and I don't see it fit for any of them to testify."

"Agreed," Walker said. "They have had very little to do with our world."

"There are still six not yet chosen," the Observant Prime replied, stroking his chin. "These are humans and should be tried as such. Six more must be chosen."

"Technus, he is a teacher at Ghost Zone High."

"Then for the humans, I also choose a teacher: Edward Lancer."

"Four more," came the Observant Prime's command, as he jotted down the names of the jury.

"Emilio Sanchez."

"Dex."

"An Observant child?" Plasmius queried.

"Why not?" Walker said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Unusal, but permissive," the Observant Prime replied. "Two more, gentlemen."

"Danielle Phantom.

"Desiree."

Vlad shot Walker a sour look. "You know you're asking for trouble, right?"

"Correct," the Warden said, a wide grin on his face.

* * *

The Observant Prime rose to his feet and face the court assembled below. "Those who are called forth will serve as witnesses and will decide the fate of the accused."

The Court Scribe accepted the scroll of names of the selectment from his hand. "The Goddess Pandora! The Lunch Lady! Sidney Pointdexter!"

* * *

"This is most strange," a yeti-like ghost whispered to the human girl next to him. "I have never seen the likes of such a trial for a hundred shadows."

"I've never seen a ghost trial before ever...whoops, I think they just called my name," she replied.

"Good luck to you, young human," Frostbite replied, yellow irises widening in surprise.

* * *

"Kwan Li! Star Istre! Pamela Manson!"

* * *

"Mom, they just called your name," Sam hissed, elbowing her.

"I know, darling," Pamela said, checking her makeup. "I have to be perfect, you know."

"I know," Sam groaned.

* * *

"Papa, don't lose your temper," Paulina cautioned. "You know your blood pressure."

"What they have done to Phantom is inexcusable," Emilio replied in a short, grim tone. "I will see justice done, even if I kill myself again."

"Emilio!"

* * *

The members of the jury filtered down from the crowded stands and filed into a small room where both King Plasmius and Walker met them. After coldly greeting one another, the evidence was placed before as well as a real-time image of the boy, one , Daniel Phantom.

"He looks cute," Star said, as the boy's image flickered into being. "I'm sorry I treated him so badly."

King Plasmius raised an eyebrow. "Say no more, Miss Istre," he replied. "What has happened has been forgiven. You are after all, a superficial teenager still in high school."

"Tell me about it," Edward Lancer muttered, rolling his eyes.

Walker chuckled, sympathizing with the man, then let the grin slide off his face. "You are asked to listen to both sides of the argument and to decide fairly on the ghost hunters' fate. Many of you were directly involved in the events and we ask you to be impartial and not to allow your prejudices and emotions to pervert your decisions. Am I clear?"

"Yes," the jury replied in unison.


	15. Pretty Innocence

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Pretty Innocence**

* * *

Throughout the evening, I listen to Vlad and Maddie argue back and forth as to what questions the prosecutor might ask for, while remaining transfixed on the real-time image of my son. Daniel is pretty, for a boy.

"Jack, are you even listening?" Vlad asked, breaking into my fantasy of spiriting Maddie and Danny away from this hell-hole and running away to haunted Ireland.

"Huh? No, I'm sorry. My mind is elsewhere," I said.

Vlad sighed. "Never mind."

"Vlad?"

"Yes, Jack?"

"Danny. He looks awful like your son, the one you used to bring with you those times you babysat Jazz," I said, connecting the dots slowly. "It really was Danny, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Vlad replied. "Not once did you or Maddie ever ask to hold, rock or feed him. He is my son in all facts, if not by blood. And no, Maddie, he will not be succeeding me as the Ghost King. It is for the Clockwork Chronos to decide who will be my heir. Now, let's move on to the charges that have been brought against you. You should plead guilty to these..."

* * *

"All rise!" the Officer of the Court called out the following morning, after our guards shuffled us in after a lousy breakfast of weak orange juice and flimsy toast without Fenton butter or Fenton jam. I saw Jazz enter the courtroom and sit with some other ghosts around Danny's age, including one in wicked looking armor who was typing something on a control panel in his arm.

The prosecutor, the Warden, floated up to the floating dias where the jury had just taken their seats. The head floating eyeball, who was the judge, nodded in consent for him to proceed.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury," he began. I tuned out most of what he said, the jist being that Maddie and I were being charged with murder, kidnapping, abuse, and a host of other charges.

"He's making up some of the last few," I heard Vlad growl under his breath. Today, he was the Ghost King in all his glory. "I object!"

"On what grounds?" Walker challenged.

"You're making up a list of phony baloney crimes that everyone here knows my clients didn't commit, Walker," he shot back. "How the hell is white shoes after Labor Day a crime? Sheesh."

"He does have a point," the Head Eyeball replied. "Retract all charges except for the ones involving directly to the matter at hand."

"Done," the Court Reporter duly noted.

"Plasmius, refrain from speaking until it's your turn, please," the judge stated.

"Yes, your honor," Vlad conceded.

After another twenty minutes of Walker's long-winded speech and a suppressed cheer from the jury box, it was finally Vlad's turn. He kept it short and to the point.

"The Fentons are life-long ghost hunters," he stated. "The only ones of our kin they have caught and studied for the last fourteen years were those foolish enough to stray into their world and cause enough havoc to be noticed.

A war was nearly started because I was foolish enough to believe they had changed since college. I thought it would be beneficial to both our worlds if we exchanged children, but several like-minded humans in the city we chose banded together with my clients and effectively declared genocide on our race.

I called forth my people home after being forced to flee for my life. My beloved consort, Desiree, heard the cries of a distressed infant coming from a nearby brickwork townhouse. Upon arriving she discovered a male child, not quite three years of age, malnourished, filthy, and covered with burns. Like any mother amongst our kin, she summoned up a bottle of ectoplasmic formula, not realizing that by doing so, she took away his right to choose our world.

When Phantom and his lover broke our law a chrona past, his mother and I saw fit that he be turned over to the hunters, who I believed would be joyful over his return and welcome him with open arms.

In conclusion, I do not ask for mercy for my clients, but that justice be served."

"What the hell kind of defense was that?" Maddie demanded. "I thought you were on our side, Vlad."

"Maddie..."

"Enough," I whispered harshly.


	16. Tasting the Forbidden Tree

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Tasting the Forbidden Tree**

* * *

"Call your first witness, Warden," the disgusting, glowing, one-eyed freak of nature, who held my life in his hands, said to the 1930s gangster cop, who was our accuser.

I ground my teeth and stared at the live image of my son, his ghostly form and vitals visible to the whole room. If only I could have wiped all the ectoplasmic DNA from him, we would still be a happy family. I skimmed over the audience and caught Jazz's eye; she turned her head away from me. Was she ashamed of me, my own daughter? Some parents Jack and I are.

While I was mentally fuming, still enraged with Vlad's revelation, the Warden, Walker, called forth the first witness: a glowing skeletal bird.

"Is this a joke?" I asked aloud.

"No joke, madam," the one-eyed thing answered. "And please refrain from any more outbursts please."

"Yes, your honor," I replied, sitting back to sulk in seat. Jack patted my hand comfortingly. I jerked my hand away and glared at him. Traitor.

"State your name and occupation for the court, if you please," the gangster ghost lord commanded.

"I am Calico Jack Belammy, commonly called Bones," the parrot replied. "I am one of the Aloidia, bound to the natural son of the Ghost King."

"That is an unusual name," the ghost mused, stroking his chin. "How did you come by it?"

"It is nature of the bond that the one to whom an alido is bound chooses its name; Master Youngblood is enamored by pirates and my name is derived from two such notorious humans."

"He's leading the witness," I whispered to Plasmius, who nodded, but chose not to object.

"Tell us, alido, what transpired one chrona ago near the emerald portal," came the request.

I listened as the bone bird told of Katherine Fischer's blackmail, of our attempted murder of said ghost girl and her boyfriend and of the rescue attempt.

"All lies!" I yelled, jumping to my feet.

"Madeline Fenton," the one-eyed freak said from his perch, "sit down or you will be removed from this court."

"So you dared Phantom to go into the portal?" the questioning continued as Vlad coated my mouth with a pink foul-tasting ectoplasmic gag. Pink rings of ecto-energy formed around me binding me to the chair.

"Yes," the parrot replied.

"I did warn you," Vlad murmured.

I glared at him in response.

* * *

"Look!" Sidney whispered excitedly to the dark-skinned human girl seated next to him. "Phantom's coming around."

"Who is that girl with him?" the human girl asked, emerald eyes fixed on the bright globe above them.

"Ember," he whispered back. "The Queen B with a capital A at G.Z. High. She is of Phantom's blood."

"What?"

"It means," the Arabian woman behind them interjected, "that my son and his lover have life-bonded - a very rare event among our kind."

"Oh."

* * *

_Ember slipped into the room and wrinkled her nose in disgust at the 'hospital smell' that permeated the room. She walked over to Phantom's bed and took one of him limp hands in hers._

_"I'm sorry," she whispered. "This never should have happened."_

_She bent over him. "I love you, dipstick. Don't you dare die on me."_

_Phantom's emerald eyes opened as her lips touched his. "Ember?"_

_"Yes, babypop?"_

_"Where am I?"_

* * *

"Why did you not retrieve the thermos yourself?" our accuser asked the avian spirit.

"The alarms," the parrot replied. "The Fentons set them up to respond to any presence of ecto-energy. Phantom's unique nature allowed him to pass unharmed, however we didn't think about that until after the alarms were tripped."

"And how did you happen upon this knowledge?"

"I read, which is more than I can say for my bonded."

"Hey," came a boy's voice from the balcony. "Them's fighting woids, boid."

The one-eyed freakish judge turned his singular orb in the direction of the balcony.

"Sorry, your honor," the boy piped up again.

The judge blinked, then nodded in the voice's direction.

"As you were," he stated to the gangster cop.

"To summarise, you say that only Phantom could enter the portal safely and deactivate the genetic lock, yet the emerald portal's doors were open already. Did you notice anything else besides the thermos in the lab?"

"The Fentons, according to Phantom, had a strange device calculating a thousand formulae using ectoplasm as its source of power."

I rolled my eyes. So we use a free, low-costing form of energy to power our home that was easily obtainable from the secret dimensional portal hidden in our basement.

"And it was for this purpose that Kitty and Johnny 13 were kidnapped on their date by the ghost hunters?"

"Objection!" Vlad called out.

"Sustained," the one-eyed freak answered. "Counselor, rephrase that last question, if you don't mind."

"We have the testimony of Katherine "Kitty" Fischer and Johnny 13," here, the white ghost pulled out a leaf of paper and floated up to the dias and handed them over to the judge. "It clearly states in the fourth paragraph on the second page that 'a net was thrown over Phantom'. What happened next?"

"Phantom objected to being called a spook. The huntress called him by name and the male hunter denied he was his son," the avian witness replied. I wondered where they were going with this.

"So we establish the fact that the Fentons defended their lair from an unlawful spectral invasion. What then?"

"They tied him to a chair and we thought the hunters would cut him to pieces with a set of ecto-coated shears. So we distracted them long enough for Phantom to grab the thermos Kitty and Johnny were trapped in and got out of there as fast as we could. "

"So the hunters use ghost blood as a source of energy," the accuser said, grinning at us evilly. "No further questions, your honor."

The one-eyed freak turned toward Vlad. "Does the defense wish to cross-examine the witness?"

"No, your honor."

"You may step down. Counselor, do you wish to call your next witness?"

"I move for a rest, your honor."

"So mote it be. The court will reconvene at the third hour."

We all rose as the one-eyed freak and his other freakish cousins rose and teleported from the room.

A thrall came running into the room and whispered into Vlad's ear. His eyes widened and he let out a sigh of relief.

"He's awake," was all he said, as our captors arrived to clap us in irons once more. When this sham trial is through, I will show these sentient ectoplasmic scumbags what ghost hunters are really capable of.


	17. Earth's Thrice Fairer Sun

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Earth's Thrice Fairer Sun**

* * *

"The orb you see before you is akin to what mortals call a web cam," the Observant Prime announced when the court reconvened the next morning at the third hour. "With it we can see Phantom's healing progress. For the privacy of the Fentons' son, no auditory will pass from his room to this court."

"I think the court figured that out yesterday," Valerie whispered to Sidney; the two having met for breakfast in a quiet café around the corner from the judgement room. King Plasmius had assigned three thralls to each jury member for protection, so she also was warily eyeing the row of glowing green skeletal guards standing at the back of the courtroom, various weapons honed to a gleaming sharpness.

"There's new people in attendance today," Sidney whispered back. "Word has gotten out about the Fentons; the square outside is packed, I've been told."

"Oh."

Both fell silent as the Warden and his prisoners popped in. King Plasmius shifted from his ghost form to his human one and sat down at the defendants' table. Day Two had begun.

"The prosecution calls Dashiel Baxter to the stand, your honor," he announced.

"Proceed," the Observant Prime answered.

A good-looking ghost boy, Valerie noted, took the stand. He wore a G.Z. High letter jacket, a white teeshirt and ripped faded jeans. He was tall, blond crew cut, pupiless red eyes.

"He looks like Spock," she said in an aside to Sidney, who put a finger to his lips.

"Later," he whispered, "we're supposed to be listening."

Valerie looked quickly at the sphere where a doctor and a nurse were examining Danny, who was sitting upright today. He looked a bit green. She turned her attention back to the trial.

"So, you and Phantom go to school together?" Walker asked the nervous witness, emerald eyes narrowing at the boy.

"Y-y-yes, sir," he squeaked out. "You are our principal, sir. You should know that."

A few twitters leaked out from the courtroom as the chamber's audio system picked up the statement.

"That is irrelevant," Walker snapped. "We are establishing your connection to Phantom, the son of the Fentons."

"He is no son of theirs," Dash shot back.

"In what way?" Walker asked.

"He is one of us; if they had wanted him so bad, they would have come looking for him a long time ago. He is easy enough to find."

"When you and he are not taking potshots at each other in the hallways," Walker muttered.

"Hey, we cleaned up the mess our ecto-rays left the last time," Dash shot back. "And we said we're sorry like about fifty gazillion times!"

Vlad voice rang out. "Objection, your honor. The witness is off topic."

The Observant Prime would have raised eyebrows if he'd had any. "Sustained. The Prosecution and the Witness will both return to the topic on hand, if you please."

"Yes, your honor," both replied.

"When Phantom and his cohorts returned from invading the Fentons' lair in the human world, they all ended up at the Refuge."

"Yes," Dash said.

"What is your job at the Refuge?"

"I am a bouncer."

"And yet you routinely allow children into a teenage club?"

"Phantom's little brother and adopted cousin usually stay in the kitchen and help the Box Ghost's wife prepare the foods and stuff. They know they're not allowed in the club proper. The alido keeps a sharp eye on them," Dash stated. "So long as they follow those rules, Miss Spectra doesn't mind, but only those two. No one else."

"Why those two?"

"Phantom is King Plasmius' adopted son and the pipsqueak's older brother. I'm not going to get into a spat with him over that; Phantom is a bit overprotective sometimes."

"And the girl?"

"We don't know where she came from," Dash admitted, shrugging his shoulders a bit. "She looks so much like Phantom, we always assumed was his little sister or cousin or something."

"Tell the court what happened that night when Phantom came in," Walker stated, changing tracks.

"Phantom and I exchanged words at the entrance; he went in and sat down with Sidney Pointdexter and that firecracker-witted girl of his."

"Any idea of what they were talking about?"

"No," Dash said.

The Warden tapped his chin for a minute. "I've been told Phantom called an impromptu meeting in one of the club's back rooms. Is this true?"

"Yes," Dash replied. "Phantom called a group of us over and told us what went down with the Fentons during the rescue. It took great guts to do what he did at the expense of his life to save Johnny and Kitty."

"What did Phantom say?"

Dash's thoughts went back to that night. "He said, 'They knew my name and recognized my mark.'"

"So the Fentons identified him as their long lost son by a birthmark," Walker said, establishing another link in the chain of events. "No further questions."

"Does the defense wish to cross-examine the witness?" the Observant Prime asked.

"Yes," came Vlad's strong tenor. "Just one, your honor."

Dash paled.

"How did Phantom look that night."

"He was in human form," Dash stammered.

"That is all," Vlad announced, sitting down.

"Does the prosecution wish to redirect?" the Observant Prime queried.

"No, your honor," came Walker's reply.

"Then, you may step down," the Observant Prime told Dash. "Call your next witness, counselor."

"We call Jasmine Fenton to the stand."

That announcement set the courtroom whisper mill on fire once more, causing the Observant Prime to bang his gavel several times to regain order. "Where is Jasmine Fenton?"

"She's with her little brother, your honor," Valerie's voice came from the jury box.

All eyes turned to the glowing orb.

"Audio would nice about now," Walker growled, shooting an annoyed glance at Vlad, who smirked.

"Send someone to the healing chamber to fetch Jasmine Fenton," the Observant Prime ordered.

"I will go," Ember volunteered.

"Then let be so"

"Number One," Valerie quipped in a very soft whispered to herself.

"A Trekkie and a Star Wars fan," Sidney grinned at her. "Girl, where have you been all my life."

"Down, boy, you have a girlfriend."

"And you wouldn't want to disappoint her papa, would you?" Emilio Sanchez said, leaning over them.

"No, sir," Sidney gulped as he replied. The man scared the crap out of him.

"Now, pay attention, and no more talking."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

_"Why does Jazz have to testify?" Phantom angrily asked, when Ember explained the human girl's abrupt departure._

_"She was there when you were taken, Phantom. She was also there when the Fentons took you and Ember back to their lair. Her testimony is vital."_

_"But for Walker's side? He's going to annihilate her!"_

_"She's got the brains over his brawn any day, Danny. Trust me on this."_

_"Okay, Ember," Phantom said, laying back down on the bed. "I want all this finished."_

_"I do too," she agreed, caressing his hand. "I have to bring her back now."_

_"I hate this," he grumbled, as the catlike nurse with the bell collar came in to change his bed linens. "I wish that my human parents would hammer their own damning nails themselves."_

Valerie noted the genie-like ghost winced slightly and had to suppress the faint pink ecto-energy that formed around her hands.

"Oh, Daniel," she heard the ghost lady moan. "Quit making so many foolish wishes, my son." A ghost holding a wicked looking chronomancer's staff caught her eye and nodded as his formed shifted from old man to buck-toothed baby. She blinked; he nodded again.

"Who was that ghost?" she asked Sidney.

"The Clockwork Chronos," came back the reply. "If he caught your attention, then that means something is majorly up. We can sneak out during recess and see what he wants."

"I'm game," Valerie chirped, as Ember and Jazz reappeared in a fiery whirlwind.


	18. Blessed Are Your North Parts

id:7675061

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Blessed Are Your North Parts**

* * *

"Blessed are your north parts," the Observant Prime said, as Jasmine Fenton took her place in the witness-box.

Desiree leaned forward to look closer at the flame-haired human girl who her consort had trusted so much knowledge to.

"Excuse me?" the human girl asked, puzzled.

"It is an expression that the people of the Far Frozen use to greet one so highly respected," Walker answered for the judge. "I wouldn't expect for the mortal daughter of murdering ghost hunters to understand."

Desiree noted the deadly glint in the human girl's eyes. "Oh really, Mr. I-have-no-fashionsense? Ever heard of the twenty-first century?"

Plasmius chuckled. Only Jasmine would dare to sass the Ghost Zone's Warden on his own territory.

Walker tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Smart girl, smart mouth. I can see why your parents favored you over your brother."

Jasmine frowned. "Come again?"

"Your parents never wanted your brother. That's why he was neglected and filthy when the Ghost King's consort found him. But why take him, and not you also. You, too, Jasmine Fenton were neglected and forsaken by your blood-kin."

"I don't know," she replied, trembling slightly, tears forming in her eyes.

"Here," he said gently, handing her a handkerchief. "When were you first aware of your brother after Desiree took him?"

"It was my birthday," Jazz murmured. "I was really young at the time, but I remember hearing Uncle Vlad telling Danny to be quiet and take his medicine or the human would notice he was playing make-believe. The door I was leaning against popped open inwards and I spilled forward-looking up in horror to see the object of my mother's bedtime stories change into Uncle Vlad. He was giving the little boy on the bed some glowing green stuff."

"And what was your first inclination?" Walker prodded.

"To yell for my mom and dad," she honestly answered. "Uncle Vlad clamped one hand over my mouth and quickly shut the door. 'If you be quiet,' he said, 'I will explain everything to you, Jasmine.'"

"And?"

Jasmine looked over at her parents. "He told me the truth."

"And that would be?"

"They are warm-hearted, loving parents," she stated firmly. "They love me know matter what, but they are also cold-hearted scientists who murder the very subjects they seek knowledge from."

Vlad shook his head and sighed.

"No further questions, Your Honor," Walker said, shooting him a triumphant grin.

"Does the Defense wish to cross-examine the witness?" the Observant Prime asked from the dias.

"No, Your Honor," Vlad replied. Jasmine rose and melted back into the audience; Vlad saw Ember rise from the back of the room and float over to meet her.

"Does the Defense wish to call forth his first witness?"

"We have only one, Your Honor," Vlad announced, shuffling the papers in his hand. "We call forth the Clockwork Chronos to shine forth the truth of life upon these proceedings."

"Very well," the Observant Prime said. "Time Master, please proceed."

Two very large ornate clock hands appeared, revealing a buck-toothed crimson-eyed child with medium blue skin wearing a cloak. "As I have known from the beginning," he said, becoming a young man and simultaneously pulling out a glowing emerald orb and small vial full of a glowing liquid the same color as the orb. "These are not the Fentons."

"WHAT?!" roared the entire chamber, including the Fentons themselves.

"Let him who has ears let him hear," Clockwork intoned, banging his staff upon the obsidian tile, while changing his form to that of an old man. With the wave of his hand, the emerald orb brightened, an image of the Old Ghost King, Pariah Dark himself appeared in its depths.

"It all began on the day when Pariah Dark was sealed into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep..."

* * *

_"It's not going to hurt, is it?" Phantom asked, fear showing itself in his electric green eyes._

_"A bit," Doctor Bert Rand answered. "I'm not going to lie to you, boy. Lie still, so we can administer the black elixir." He filled a needle from a small jar of dark fluid and injected it into one of Phantom's veins. He screamed for a few seconds, until Ember kissed him into silence._

_"No more warm sick," Ember cooed to him softly, as his sister, Jasmine, squeezed his hand encouragingly. "Jazz and I will be here when you wake for the white elixir of eternity, Phantom. Now rest, so the black elixir can extract its price."_

_Phantom's eyes slowly closed. "No more warm sick," he murmured sluggishly._

_"Thank God, it's finally over," Jazz whispered, breaking the silence. "I hate to see him suffering so much because of our stupid parents."_

_"He'll wake in an hour or so," Doctor Bert Rand announced, scribbling something down on a clipboard. "Ring for Nurse Alice or myself if he wakes up sooner."_

_"Is that a normal thing?" Ember wondered._

_"It has happened a time or two," the doctor answered. "Get yourself some rest as well, young human. Your first step upon the spiral path will begin soon enough."_

* * *

"Biologically, they are the Fentons, down to the last molecule," Clockwork stated as the last image floated across the surface of the orb. It was a fleeting close-up image of Maddie struggling against the dark leather straps binding her to a table while an agent of the GIW in doctor's garb injected her with some type of bluish-green serum. "But at the same time, they are not."

"Explain!" Walker demanded.

"While Maddie was still recuperating from giving birth to Daniel, the GIW broke into their home and sabotaged their equipment, eventually coming across the blueprints for the proto-portal. A dark and ugly scheme was born that day. Jack and Maddie were still getting used to the idea of their best friend being a ghost who could take human form at will. The drug given to Maddie that you saw in that last scene was a psychotropic drug whose name is unknown to me."

"So, what you're basically trying to tell us is that Maddie and Jack Fenton were kidnapped while they were weak, brainwashed, drugged, and retrained to kill our people all the while conducting research into the spiritual elements using funds given them by the Guys In White," Walker said, gaping in astonishment at the horrendous mass genocidal plan conducted by the humans.

"Yes," Clockwork replied. "The Guys In White saw no advantage in the children, Jasmine and Daniel, so bare minimum attention was given to them at best, hence Daniel's neglect and filth when Desiree found him. There were plan to alter the minds and behaviors of Jasmine and Daniel once both reached the age of consent, but I managed to intervene and change the timestream at that point." He shot an apologetic look to the Observant Prime, who nodded in understanding.

"You may return to your tower," the Observant Prime told him. Turning to the jury, he stared at them in silence for a moment.

"There will be no closing arguments from either side," he told ghostkin and mortal alike. "You have all the evidence you need. The fate of the Fentons lies in your grasp. Choose well." The jury was dismissed to a small room for debate.


	19. Jasmine's Choice

Changeling

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Jasmine's Choice**

* * *

Eight ghosts and four humans huddled together over a table with a large crystal orb in its center. In front of them were smaller orbs.

"Place your hands over the smaller orbs," the Observant who followed them instructed. "The orbs will glow with a singular color when you have reached a final decision. The central orb will glow either white or black when all the smaller orbs are lit."

"Just white or black?" Edward Lancer asked for clarification.

"Yes," came the reply.

"What if we can't decide?" Pamela Manson wanted to know.

"Make a wish," the Observant replied, his singular eye flicking to the King's consort. "Best wishes to you all." The heavy door slammed shut behind him.

Technus clasped his hands together and tapped his forefingers against his lips. "This is very difficult and not so."

"How so?" Sidney queried.

"We're too closely tied together in our bonds to both Phantom or the Fentons. The court is biased."

"It usually is," Desiree mused. "That's why we were placed on the jury. We know the subjects too well."

"So how are we supposed to decide their fates?" Pamela demanded. "It's clear they are both guilty and innocent.

"How about just closing our eyes and letting the orbs decide for us?" Dex suggested. "The orbs are designed to read our hearts to the inmost corners, but then again that would be a fair choice to the humans."

"True," Valerie agreed, "but I have no earthly clue what to decide. My dad was all for supporting the Fentons' research and stuff. Personally, I think the exchange program might have worked, if it had been done differently."

"The Clockwork Chronos made it clear these weren't the Fentons, except on a molecular level," Technus stated, after much thought. "These are just constructs. I say we get rid of these, march on the GIW headquarters and rescue the real ones from whatever these genocidal scum are hiding them."

"But first we must find that the real Fentons are alive and really there," Emilio pointed out. Several of the others nodded. "Who will go for us?"

"I would suggest the Lunch Lady," Pandora spoke up. "Of all of us, she has the best chance for disguise amongst the humans."

"Not a good idea," Danielle Phantom spoke up, her hands trembling as she formed a glowing emerald spear in her hands. "Please, someone help me. I don't want to do this." Saying so, she lunged at the nearest ghost-Desiree.

"Child, what are you doing?" Technus cried out, trying to grab the would-be murderer.

"The GIW did this to me," Danielle wailed, trying to regain control of her limbs as she launched another attack at the King's consort. "They created me from Phantom's DNA and some type of ectoplasmic compound the Fentons had been working one. I was born and I hate my life."

"Nanobots," Technus announced, pulling his shades down. "I wish you'd be still for ten minutes."

Desiree's hands glowed pink and Danielle's form froze in the mid-act of plunging the spear into her core. "Cut a bit close, weren't we?" she said, glaring at him.

"Sorry," he apologized, pulling out a small computer tablet from an inner pocket in his lab coat. "Okay, let me see..."

The minutes ticked by and Mr. Lancer swore he could hear the Jeopardy theme song chiming in his mind. He glanced sidelong at the gray ghost chatting with Miss Grey, who looked up at him and gave him a nervous grin.

He shook his head and focused on the crystal orb in front of him. The real Fentons were misguided, but not evil. He sighed. "It's not fair."

"Nothing in life ever is," Pandora replied, looking down on him. The Greek woman was very tall and statuesque. "We all have roles we're given in life; how the play turns out depends on the actor."

"True," Edward replied, "and speaking of plays..."

Danielle's hands dropped to her side and the spear fizzled out. "Done!" Technus crowed at the same time. "Five minutes; they are getting sloppy."

None of the others dare to ask him to clarify, as he bent over and whispered something to the girl halfling. She squealed and hugged him.

Turning to Desiree, she bowed low. "I am sorry, Miss Desiree," she murmured, almost too low for anyone to hear. "I couldn't control myself. Please forgive me."

"We'll discuss this further at home, Danielle," Desiree replied. "And yes, you will be coming home with me when this is over."

Twelve globes lit up all at once: eleven black and one white.

"Technus!"

"What?" he exclaimed, as the central orb turned dark as sin. "I believe only the woman is the woman is not real. She's the only one who should be turned over to the Observants."

"How can we ascertain the truth?" Pandora wondered.

"I can look into any mirror in the past or present," Sidney offered, "if Phantom's mother wouldn't mind giving me a boost."

"Not at all," Desiree agreed. "The orbs are to be wiped clean and we redecide the Fentons' fates."

"Agreed," everyone replied.

* * *

Maddie cut again her fingernails, blood running in rivulets down her arm. She looked up at Plasmius, who looked stoically back at her. "I bleed, therefore, I am human."

"You are not Madeline Fenton," he replied.

"I am Maddie Fenton," she cried hysterically. "Vlad, you have to believe me."

"What is there to believe?" came the cold response.

* * *

"Jack Fenton?"

The unshaven human male looked up bleary eyed at his jailer. The man looked like he had been dragged to Hades and back. Just as well, Walker decided when the prisoner rolled over and showed him his back."

"First rule of acting, never show your backside to the audience," Walker told him gruffly. "The Observant Council has decided your fate, human. We will help you rescue your wife before we put you down."

"Is that all I am to you, a dog?" Jack mumbled.

"Why should I treat you any different than what you have made yourself out to be?" Walker countered. "Now, answer my question before you blow things out of proportion."

"Maddie's alive?" asked Jack, the wheels turning in his head.

"Yes," Walker answered. "At one member of the jury's insistence, the events leading up to the GIW reprogramming you and Maddie were reexamined. They never tampered with your mind, Fenton. It is Maddie, I'm afraid, who will by this time, no longer exist."

"She's dead," Jack said flatly.

"There are fates worse than death, Mr. Fenton," Walker said, slightly annoyed. "Do you want to rescue your wife or not?"

Jack nodded. "What is to happen to me then? Daniel and Jasmine will be alright?"

Walker leaned over until he was in Jack's face. "The Council has denied you and your wife any parental rights to your offspring, human. Jasmine is off an age where she may decide her own fate. As for Phantom, the Observant Council met in a separate earlier in the week that the usual month will be tossed aside so that his life might be saved. He has partaken of the white elixir and is now fully part of our world."

"Joy," Jack muttered.

"He has requested to see you," Walker said.

"He is not my son," Jack answered.

"As you have wished it, so shall it be," Walker announced, standing up. "Will you work with us to save Maddie?"

"So you can kill her again?" Jack shouted, enraged at the thought of his wife spending her life going from one prison straight into another. "No."

"Then prepare to move to Ward B," Walker said, motioning for the guards to come and cuff the human.

* * *

Jazz watched her brother lock the blue-skinned pryokinetic diva in a deep kiss. She smiled faintly at the sight.

A hand fell on her shoulder. "Is this truly your final wish, Jasmine? They won't remember any of this once Desiree grants it."

"It is best if we all forgot," Jazz said to the Time Master.

"I will allow the King's Consort to turn back the clock this once," Clockwork explained. "The GIW will fail in their attempt to kidnap your parents to brainwash them. You will deny our very existence and it will be fourteen years before Daniel becomes part of our world again."

"And of his journey's completion?"

"The elixirs' transformative power will always be within him; he will know the right wish when the time comes."

"He will become his own changeling, then?" Jazz questioned him

"Of a sort," the Clockwork Chronos answered, a hint of a smile on his lips. "Only Time knows for sure."


End file.
